Harry Potter and Fate's Second chance
by neerjya
Summary: The wareffort in shambles and Harry's friends dead and Horcruxes still not destroyed Harry is trying to fight a losing battle with an immortal Voldemort.Fate decides to intervene & offer Harry a second chance.The only catch Harry has no previous memories.
1. Prolouge

A/N:I got this idea from reading a wide array of fan-fics by Intromit, S'Tarkan and Moxterminator.

All credit to them and I hope I will be able to pull this one off. This is my first fan-fic. So here goes nothing.

Not many things surprised or scared or fazed Harry James Potter anymore.

Realizing that he was a wizard, a really famous one at that, completely out of the blue at the age of 11 and that there actually exists a real "magical" world had taken care of the surprises.

Facing a troll, a professor harbouring Voldemort, a basilisk, a handful of dementors, a full grown dragon, dueling Voldemort, his death-eaters and some crazy dark-creature that Voldemort managed to unearth time and time again had taken care of the scares.

Watching as his friends, family, mentor et all dieing, many times while covering his back and saving his life one after the another and watching the magical world crumble bit by bit had taken care of the fazes.

So when in the middle of dueling the immortal Voldemort for what seemed like the thousandth time, he suddenly found himself in the middle of what seemed like endless mists in all directions and no sign of Voldemort he was surprised, scared and yes certainly fazed.

Surprised because he thought that today he would be done in for sure. He had started to weaken but Voldemort had simply seemed to have been feeding off the growing weakness. Being immortal certainly has it's advantages.

Then he was suddenly very scared as he realized that he might be dead. Dread coursed through his system as he realized that Voldemort and not he had fulfilled the prophecy and with him out of the way Voldemort had a bloody good shot at world domination or whatever he wanted to do with scores of slaves and minions and creatures that he was gathering.

And then his thoughts stumbled a bit as he realized that he didn't feel dead and that thought got him chuckling as he started wondering whether you are even supposed to feel being dead.

"Am quite glad to see that you can actually smile in spite of what you have been through."

Startled by the voice and cursing himself for letting his guard down, Harry immediately went into full combat mode which had been honed to near perfection with years of practice. He whipped around with cat-like reflexes and grace akin to a ballet-dancer and reached for his wand. Turning around he came to face a woman whom he could only describe as the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had long wavy hair of a colour Harry surprisingly couldn't quite place. The features of her face were striking to the point of being perfect. She looked young yet old and mature. She seemed to be dressed in what seemed to drapes of the finest silk possible. Her eyes! She had eyes whose colour too Harry couldn't recognize. But they were twinkling, sparkling and shining all at the same time if that was even possible. There also seemed to be a golden aura around her which was actually soothing Harry's frayed nerves.

It was then that he realised that he did not have a wand and he was dressed in nothing but his birthday suit.

In spite of the situation he surprisingly did not feel awkward but he was certainly speechless. He finally managed to get his tongue working and asked, "Err who are you? What…er…where is this? And what exactly am I doing here?"

"Well Harry I am Fate. You may call this my conference room and you are here because you deserve another chance and I have decided to offer it to you." She replied in a melodious voice.

"Another chance? So Voldemort finally killed me then. Wish I could remember it though. After all it's not everyday that you are killed by a Dark Lord who has been trying to kill you since before you were even out of nappies." Harry was quite surprised that he didn't even challenge what the woman told him and instead simply replied in what had become his very own trademark sarcastic style.

"Well technically you are not dead. But you would have died today. Of that I am quite certain. So I decided to pull you out for a second chance," her voice coming out melodiously sad.

"Second chance? Are you MAD? I think I have had enough of Voldemort to last me a thousand lifetimes! I have done enough fighting! I have had enough of people, people that I love and care for dieing on my bloody watch! No thanks but I will take the death and move on to 'The next Great Adventure' please if you don't mind. I have had enough of saving the world from big bad man. I am just sick of everything. You send me back and I will probably commit suicide or maybe even better hand myself over ceremoniously to Voldemort," seethed Harry and it surprisingly felt good to vent out his frustrations of years at Fate herself.

"Yes Harry I know that you are quite tired of deaths, killings and indeed the unfortunate way things have taken a turn for……"

"UNFORTUNATE way things have taken a turn for?? Bloody hell it's not simply an unfortunate mess back home. It's a damn catastrophe! England and almost half of the continent is nothing a massive graveyard. Those alive are either hiding with no possibility of a real life or are slaves for the amusement of Voldemort. All my friends, people for whom I care and love either have a grave somewhere in the middle of nowhere or are goddamned weapons for Voldemort to use as infernis. I have nothing and nobody left. Nobody to love and love me back. Give me one bloody reason for taking up your offer of this second chance." Harry was practically fuming at this point.

Fate only smiled warmly at this as if her point precisely had just been proven. "I am afraid you quite misunderstood me Harry. I never meant that you would be going back to the time you were in. You would be sent back to live almost your entire life again. You shall go back to your childhood years, just before you turned 11, just before you started your magical training and in a way begin from there again. Think of it as literally a rewinding of time."

For the second time in a day Harry was shocked, surprised and bothered beyond measurement. Thoughts were screeching across his mind at speeds he never imagined were possible. _'_Live through everything again? Yet get to see everyone Ron, Hermione, the Weasleys again. See Sirius, Remus hell even Snape the bloody spy who was loyal to Dumbledore till death again. See the Hogwarts castle in all it's glory once again. Live in the Burrow the one place which truly felt like home to him again. Fly for the sake of enjoying it.' But then doubts started to filter through. 'What if he was unable to stop the destruction again? What if he wouldn't be able to save all those lives again? What if he failed again?'

Finally he managed to string his thoughts together into a coherent and audible question, "Why do you want to send me back? Why couldn't you right it the first time? I mean you are 'Fate' herself aren't you?"

"Even I Harry cannot control the actions of living beings. I can only be the guiding force if you might. It would be rather complicated don't you think if I were to actually peter out everyone's life."

"Why are you giving me a second chance? I am sure there must have been many situations before me where things must have gone horribly wrong. Do you 'rewind the time' every time things go bad?"

"No Harry I have never done this before and I will probably never do this again for entire eternity. I can't rewind time at will. Fate is not almighty." Unless Harry was mistaken she almost looked relived that she was not almighty.

"Why me?"

"That Harry I cannot answer. For I am afraid I won't be able to explain. But I can do this only if you are willing. You will simply have to trust me." She seemed almost sad at this.

Harry watched her minutely. He desperately wanted to go back and alter and rectify dozens of things. Do so many things differently that he could hardly count them all. But some thing just felt amiss. It all seemed simply too good. In fact too good to be true. He finally put his doubts into words.

"There is a catch in it……isn't it?"

Fate smiled profoundly. "Yes Harry. Dare I say, quite a big catch as you put it?"

Fate waited for Harry to respond but he simply looked at her in the eyes and waited for her to complete her explanation.

"You will not have the memories and knowledge of your life so far when you embark upon it again." She waited for the explosion to come from Harry but it never did.

Harry almost smiled wryly. "I thought that there must be something like this. Life never was a bed if roses for me and even with my memories and the knowledge I doubt it would have been. Then how exactly am going to change things around if I go in blindly again?"

"You will not have any recollections Harry, however when you start over again you still will intellectually be the man you have become now. Just as mature. Just as perceptive. Just as wise and intelligent and profound. Just as confident. Just as loyal. Just as fun-loving. Just as loving."

Fate paused for a moment as she regarded Harry. "I will however allow you ability or one piece of knowledge that you will like to have. The rest of you and everyone else will remain the same they were at that time in your past."

Even as she made this offer Harry knew exactly what he wanted. The one thing he had consciously tried to avoid even thinking of. Infact he has a sneaking suspicion that Fate knew exactly what he would ask for. He was thoughtful but only for a moment. Then without hesitation he replied, "I would like to remember some form of my love for Ginny."

Fate beamed at Harry. "This Harry is the one of the many reasons why you and only you deserved the second chance."

Even as Harry finished hearing what Fate had said a golden light began enclosing him and the last thing Harry remembered was Fate's dazzling smile which somehow seemed to morph into one thing Harry had missed for a very long time; Ginny's radiant and contagious smile.


	2. Visit to the Zoo

Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whining, Surrey was almost as normal a house as you would ever find in suburban England. It was remarkably similar to the remaining 13 houses on the street. An outsider would be hard-pressed to find a difference between the various houses. Even the cars in the majority of the drives of Privet Drive were of the same model if of different colours. Number 4 played home to the three Dursleys (Vernon, Petunia and Dudley) and to Petunia and Vernon's greatest consternation to one Harry James Potter, Petunia's nephew from her dratted sister.

Harry Potter was the only dark spot in the Dursleys' perfect life. They couldn't really get rid of him. But they made every effort possible to disguise and hide the fact there even lived another boy besides their darling Dudley in the house. The photographs on the mantelpiece held numerous pictures of Dudley. There were pictures of Dudley looking like a big pink beach-ball. Dudley crawling for the first time. Dudley walking for the first time. Dudley on his first bicycle. Dudley with his first hand held video game. Dudley with his first computer. Dudley being cuddled and hugged and loved by his parents.

The pictures gave no indication that there lived another boy in the house.

Yet Harry Potter was there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that always made the first noise of the day.

"Up! Get up! Now!"

Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.

"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before but he couldn't quite place it.

Even as his groggy mind was waking up he realized that something was different today. He couldn't quite place it. He simply felt a lot different from the day before. He felt more confident than he ever had before. He felt wise and intelligent. He felt more mischievous than ever before but that was not much as the Dursleys never ever allowed any mischief from him. Simply put, he felt different.

His aunt was back outside the door.

"Are you up yet?" she demanded.

"Nearly," said Harry.

"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."

Harry groaned. And just for a wild moment he felt like deliberately somehow pranking Dudley for the sake of it to spite him off.

"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.

"Nothing, nothing..."

Dudley's birthday -– how could he have forgotten? Well since he never really got to celebrate his birthday he supposed birthdays never really meant much to him. Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found an old pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.

He was used to the cupboard. He almost liked it; after all it was the only thing in the house that he could truly count as his own. Nobody ever entered his cupboard. Not Dudley, not his uncle not even Aunt Petunia, which he found very odd as Aunt Petunia insisted on keeping every room but his cupboard surgically clean herself. But today he wondered for the first time whether the Dursleys' were doing anything wrong by making him sleep in the cupboard. He was seriously getting a bit too big for the cupboard. That was saying something as Harry was undoubtedly quite small for his age. Even at the age of ten he felt that he looked like a seven or eight year old. He could now barely stand upright without brushing his hair on the stairs.

When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise -– unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look like it, but his reflexes were super-fine which made him fast, very fast.

Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark and cramped cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry was glad that he at least got his own underwear.

Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes which Harry had a suspicion his school teacher really liked because she always seemed to see gaze into his eyes for long period of times with what looked like adoration to Harry. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of sello-tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.

"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions."

Don't ask questions -– that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.

He was suddenly suspicious of this rule. A lot of things at the Dursleys seemed way out of line. Granted it seemed like his aunt and uncle hated his parents, but completely ignoring them and literally denying their existence seemed, well a bit extreme. They even refused to call Harry by his name preferring BOY over it.

Harry did not even know his parents' name until he started going to school and learned reading and nicked the students' register to find out what his parents' name. Something was wrong very wrong. It seemed almost as if the Dursleys wanted to hide his parents' life from him. But why?

Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon and Harry's thoughts were interrupted.

"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.

About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way -– all over the place and in record time none-the-less. After every hair-cut his hair was back to it's original state in a day or two almost as if to mock his uncle. Harry suddenly wondered if he almost willed his hair to grow back quickly. It seemed really odd that his hair would grow so quickly immediately after a hair-cut yet not grow at the same speed after a couple of days.

Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel -– Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig without a tail.

Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room on the table. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.

"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."

"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."

"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.

Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?''

Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Harry thought that he could almost see the perspiration on his face. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty ... thirty..."

"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.

"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."

Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. "Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.

Harry thought that it sounded like Dudley was being rather greedy. But he didn't say anything. He felt a pang of sadness at the fact that he never received any gifts from the Dursleys. Well another thing to add to the long list of what seemed like very wrong things.

At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it promptly as ever while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, and sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.

"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.

Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap, the momentary pang of sadness evaporating. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.

"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again. Now that he thought over the time he spent at Mrs. Figg's place it seemed that she was making an effort to be…..well make sure that Harry did not enjoy his time there. Boy a lot things seemed to be suspicious today.

"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.

"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."

The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there -– or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.

"What about what's-her-name, your friend -– Yvonne?"

"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.

"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's new computer).

Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.

"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.

"I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.

"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "... and leave him in the car..."

"That car's new; he's not sitting in it alone..."

Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying -– it had been ages since he'd really cried -– but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything absolutely anything he wanted.

"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.

"I... don't... want... him... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp– spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.

Just then, the doorbell rang -– "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically -– and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. First mate, if Dudley was the captain of their gang. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once. Harry wondered if his aunt and uncle really believed everything that Dudley said or did they just do that so that they could spite venom at Harry and punish him.

Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside for a nice little chat.

"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's and spraying it with his spit, "I'm warning you now, boy -– any funny business, ANYTHING at all -– and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."

"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly...

But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.

The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.

Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.

Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of

Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls) -– The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit

Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.

On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid–jump.

All those things suddenly seemed rather fishy to Harry. Was he really behind them. If he was why couldn't he explain them rationally. Honestly 'wind must have caught me in mid–jump' that sounded oh so very stupid to him now. He really needed to give some thought to all these crazy occurrences around him. Maybe read a few books as the Dursleys were never going to answer any of his questions anyways.

But today, nothing was going to go wrong. He was going to enjoy the day. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.

While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. Harry generally received precedence over everything else. This morning, it was motorcycles.

"...roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.

I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly and surprising even himself that he had spoken up. "It was flying."

Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"

Dudley and Piers sniggered.

I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."

But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't in any abnormal way, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon -– they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.

It was a very bright and sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought

Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, only because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head that looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blonde.

Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time, probably ever. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his Knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.

Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all simply too good to last.

After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Harry thought that he could hear someone hissing a lot of words, but they were all jumbled up and made no sense what so ever. And as nobody else seemed to notice anything he let it go.

Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can -– but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.

Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.

"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.

"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.

"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.

Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself -– no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.

The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.

If it was even possible a look of recognition came over the snake's features and it gave a slight bow to Harry.

Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and cocked his way to a side as a way of greeting.

The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley and then raised its eyes to the ceiling.

It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:

"I get that all the time.

"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. His words suddenly seemed to have a pronounced hiss at the end.

"It must be really annoying."

The snake nodded vigorously.

"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.

The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil**.

"Was it nice there?"

The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: **This specimen was bred in the zoo**. "Oh, I see -– so you've never been to Brazil?"

As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump.

"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T

BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.

"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor and he felt like something was escaping from his body some sort of an energy surge. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened -– one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next; they had leapt back with howls of horror.

Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.

As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigo."

The keeper of the reptile house was beyond shock.

"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"

The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again and offered the Dursleys free visits to the zoo forever. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Potter was talking to it, weren't you, Potter? You were making sort of hissing noises at it."

Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go -– cupboard -– stay -– no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.

Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch or even a small light fixture. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food. Food was a very precious commodity to Harry. Even though he cooked a lot for the Dursleys he rarely got to eat enough and was almost perpetually hungry if not famished. He enjoyed the meals that he received in school. Even though it did not particularly taste great it certainly satiated his hunger like no meal at the Dursleys ever did.

He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable long years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a cruel laugh and a burning pain on his forehead. This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light or the laughter came from after all didn't people scream during an accident. For the nth time in the day Harry was suddenly finding glaring holes in all the facts about his parents and indeed his entire life that the Dursleys had ever told him. Something didn't seem right at all. The Dursleys were most certainly hiding something from him. Something about his parents but No matter how hard he thought he simply couldn't come up with any plausible answer.

Of course it didn't help that he couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house. He felt very alone in the world then. He desperately yearned to see what his parents looked like. He wanted to know what they were like. Where did they live? He was almost desperate for some sort of a connection to his family. The Dursleys could never be his family. His relatives….Yes….his family probably never ever.

As he thought over his life he realised that he never could remember someone loving him and he loving anyone back. He couldn't remember even a cursory hug from his Aunt and Uncle. But he was sure that his parents must have loved him. As he was thinking he started feeling an acute sense of longing for love. Love which he knew he would never ever receive from the Dursleys. At then he simply somehow knew that he would one-day find someone who would really love him and he would love back with all the intensity possible. The mere thought of 'Love' sent tinges along his body and made him feel brilliant inspite of everything. Yes, 'Love' was quite powerful in it's own right.

When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only known relatives. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too almost dressed like they were out for a fancy-dress party or something. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look. It seemed strange to say the least.

At school too, Harry was quite alone. Academically he wasn't so bad. He got through the small tests quite easily. Infact he has learnt to read very, very quickly as he really wanted to find out his parents' names. But he generally stayed out of the teachers' attention as he didn't really try and excel at studies. He had feeling that the Dursleys would not like it if he surpassed Dudley by a huge margin. That was getting quite hard as Dudley in Harry's opinion was really really thick who couldn't even count into 3-digits.

All other students knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses and picked on him at least once a day. He was suddenly very tired of all the bullying that he received at their hands. Impulsively he decided that he was going to do something about it. He decided that he was going to stand up at least to Dudley and his gang. He was going to try and do his very best at studies infact anything that he would do. He was going to change and, change for good.

Harry would probably never realise it but the visit to the zoo and his 'talk' with the snake and the resulting events had altered his destiny and fate forever.


	3. The Best Birthday

The zoo incident fetched Harry his longest grounding ever. By the time he was ungrounded again, school was out for the summer vacation. Keeping in with his new resolution, Harry had really tried his best at everything that he did and it had bought along a lot of surprises.

Be it studying or standing up to Dudley and his gang or even cooking and cleaning for the Dursleys he tried to do his best at everything. If his teachers were pleasantly surprised at his sudden boost in academic performance the Dursleys were appalled to say the least. Dudley as usual had only managed to stay afloat. They lost no time in telling off Harry for trying to show up on Dudley and frankly Harry thought that his final results most certainly did extend his grounding period by quite sometime. Well at least this was the last year Harry could be compared to Dudley. Next academic year Dudley was off to Uncle Vernon's old school **Smeltings** while Harry would be attending the local Stonewall High.

What astonished Harry the most was the reaction of Dudley's gang when he stood his ground instead of running off and retaliated by punching Piers and Gordon on their noses and breaking them in the process. He never thought that he had enough strength to actually break a nose. He had a feeling that the strange energy surge he felt while punching them probably did it. After that instead of getting revenge on Harry, Dudley's gang avoided him like the plague. In fact he wasn't even punished by anyone for the act of violence. He suspected that Piers and Gordon hadn't complained because it would mean losing face in front of the other students that their noses was broken by the puny little Potter; with a three on one fight and Harry had escaped unharmed to boot. Dudley had hardly said a word to him after that and completely ignored Harry.

As the summer wore on Harry found himself taking refuge more and more in the Park after he finished his chores. The Park had a bit of tree-cover which Harry though just about qualified to be called woods at it's extreme end and the woods extended all the way up to the nearby Highway. Nobody ever entered or even flitted near the woods for some reason and they were always empty. Just like the cupboard Harry had come to call the woods his own.

Sometime in late July Dudley finally got his Smeltings uniform which consisted of maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life. Watching Dudley strut around the living room reminded Harry of a fat clown out for fishing rather than a school-boy, but as usual he didn't say anything and quickly made an exit to laugh his heart out in private.

The next morning there was a horrible smell in the kitchen when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in grey water." What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.

"Your new school uniform," she said.

Harry looked in the bowl again. "Let me guess, you are dyeing some of Dudley's old things grey aren't you? I really don't think they will look like Stonewall's regulation uniform."

Aunt Petunia only harrumphed at that.

Breakfast was rather slow as Uncle Vernon and Dudley took every opportunity to wrinkle their nose at the smell. Things were finally interrupted at the sound of the mail being deposited into the mail-box.

"Get the mail boy." Vernon ordered without looking up from his paper.

Not wanting to test his uncle's temper so early in the morning especially on an empty stomach, Harry silently got up from his chair and proceeded to the mail-box. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and -– a letter for Harry.

Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives -– he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly, it had his cupboard on the address there simply could be no mistake:

**Mr. H. Potter.**

**The Cupboard under the Stairs,**

**4 Privet Drive,**

**Little Whinging,**

**Surrey.**

The envelope looked rather official. It was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp. Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H.

He barely heard his uncle's bellow for him to hurry up and the wise-crack that followed. As he turned around and headed for the kitchen his mind was racing and he decided that it would be for the best if he hid the letter from his aunt and uncle for the time-being. Something told him that they wouldn't be too happy if he was receiving a strange letter with no return address, no stamp and yet the receiver's address dead-accurate. He stuffed the letter no, his letter he reminded himself happily into his shirt and then went into the kitchen.

It seemed that fate herself had decided that she was going to make Harry wait impatiently to read the letter in private. It was late afternoon by the time Harry finished all his chores for the day and set out for the privacy of the woods.

His aunt had kept him busy through the entire morning and quite some way into the afternoon doing chores and for some reason supervising him again. Harry had noticed that for almost the entire summer now his aunt had literally followed him around nervously like a supervisor or something. She rarely allowed him any free time especially in the mornings. Almost as if she was afraid that…….

"BLOODY HELL!" Harry cursed out loudly for the first time ever in his life. His aunt was expecting him to receiving a letter or some kind of intimation like that. Harry ran the remaining way to the park and settled next to his favourite tree and inspite of his excitement, reverently broke the seal, took a deep breath and then opened the envelope. It had two sheets of some kind of heavy paper inside. Harry took out the first one, it read:

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

Headmaster: **ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress.

Harry's heart sank like an anchor in sea-water. After all the anticipation it turned out to be nothing but a silly joke. A prank someone pulled on him. He had never felt so deflated in his entire life. His eyes started moistening with tears of disappointment. It had been a long time since he had last cried. He had set store so much by that letter for the entire morning. All his expectations of getting some answers went down the drain. He almost had no heart to read the second slip of paper. He was sure it would announce to him that he had been April-Fooled by them.

Yet he went ahead and unfolded the second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, and read:

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**

**UNIFORM**

First-year students will require:

Three sets of plain work robes (black)

One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS:

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Ad Albert Waffling

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT wand cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) set glass or crystal phials, telescope set, brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS.

If Harry was feeling sad and put-out earlier the kind of confusion that he was feeling now was unprecedented for him. He thought that his mind was going to burst with all the thinking. He started to think a bit more rationally rather than emotionally. Who would take this much pain to play such an elaborate prank on him. He knew that Dudley was out of contention; he simply lacked this kind of imagination. He had remained invisible to almost the entire world for most of his life. He doubted anybody in school even knew him other the guy on whom Dudley used to pick on and now as the one who out of no-where came along and topped a couple of subjects. But the address; the address on the letter said 'Cupboard under the staircase'; nobody except the Dursleys and Aunt Marge knew where he slept. The things mentioned in the second slip of paper at least looked simply too detailed to be a hoax.

At that a tiny glimmer of hope started to shine for Harry. Was this witch and magic thing really true? But if it was, why had he never ever heard about it before? Granted he was not such an avid reader but still. Why had he never met a witch or wizard before? Why hadn't his aunt and uncle mentioned anything about him being a wizard before?

Of course! It was as if someone had just switched on flood-lights in his brain. His parents! They must have been wizards. No wonder the Dursleys avoided every mention of them and he knew so less about them. They must have considered them to be abnormal or something, just as they consider him and are always on egg-shells around him……almost……expecting him to do magic. The unusual occurrences, yes the hair-growth, the shrinking sweater the flight onto the roof-top. Those were all magical actions. No wonder the Dursleys were so angry at him.

Harry was now almost convinced beyond doubt that this was not all an elaborate hoax. It was true. He must be, had to be a wizard. But he still had a lot of queries in mind. What did they mean by waiting for an owl? Where was he supposed to buy all the equipment? Where exactly was this school? How was he expected to travel to the school everyday? How was he gonna pay the fees, afford the equipment? Yes, he needed a few answers from the Dursleys. But for receiving answers he needed to ask some questions, which was nothing short of a taboo in the Dursley household. Well even if they did not quite answer his questions, Harry was sure that their reactions to his questions would give him a lot of clues.

Harry spent the rest of the afternoon reading and re-reading the letter for the umpteenth time. He decided to ask his questions immediately, at dinner. By the time dinner-time came along, Harry had worked out the conversation in his mind endlessly and was quite confident about the entire thing. His confidence however deserted him the moment dinner started.

Finally gathering as much courage as he could, he decided that a heads on approach would be the best one to take. So clearing his throat he began. "Aunt Petunia I wanted to ask you something."

The Dursleys stopped eating (well Dudley didn't, but he never did stop eating) and stared at him as if he had grown another head. Finally aunt Petunia nodded and gave her non-verbal consent to continue.

Emboldened by this Harry paused for a moment but then decided that it would be better if he got to the point. Almost recklessly he asked, "When were you going to tell me that I am a wizard and that I can do magic?"

The ensuing reactions confirmed Harry's suspicions beyond doubt. Utter silence followed his question for about 5 seconds. Then the full implications of Harry's question hit his aunt and uncle. His aunt shrieked loudly and fell into a dead faint and unbelievably uncle Vernon squealed like a school-girl and then started screaming expletives at Harry and his parents at the top of his voice (Dudley meanwhile had taken the opportunity to swipe the food off his mother's plate too). Finally uncle Vernon got control over himself and grabbed Harry by the scruff of his neck and dragged him into his cupboard and locked the door from outside.

Sitting in his cupboard Harry cursed himself. He should have seen this coming. It was Harry's second consecutive day in the cupboard without food. His aunt and uncle had let him out for a few minutes to visit the bathroom. Harry had tried talking with them but they had steadfastly refused to even meet his gaze, instead they simply physically forced him into the bathroom and then out of it. His uncle was more than a match for Harry physically. He wondered if this was going to be his life forever. Nah he thought the Dursleys would have to release him at some point of time. As sleep started to overtake him he realised that it would be the 31st of July next morning. This was going to be his worst birthday ever and that, was saying something.

Harry was woken up the next morning by the loudest knock he had ever heard on the Dursleys' door. Harry was half surprised that the door hadn't been blown off the hinges by now.

"What the hell do you think you are doing mister?" Harry heard his uncle bellow out.

"Er I am just looking for young Harry of course," a gentle voice answered back. Harry's heart took a giant leap at that. He wanted to scream out to the stranger to get him out of the cupboard. But before he could do that his uncle answered rather rudely.

"You are one of his kind aren't you? There is no Harry Potter here. Go away and never ever come back," his uncle said slamming the door on the stranger's face. Then to Harry's surprise he really did hear the noise of the door being broken down and he heard heavy steps into the living room.

"Where is Harry? You answer me now or yer will live to suffer it." Harry was surprised that the voice still sounded gentle.

Finally Harry gathered his wits about and screamed out, "I am here, inside the cupboard under the staircase."

Within seconds the door was lifted off the hinges and Harry clambered out. He came out to face the biggest man he had ever seen in his life. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair. No wonder the pad-locked door was no problem for him. He looked like a giant and with the strength of one too.

"Ah' here's Harry!" said the giant.

Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.

"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yet dad, but yeh've got yet mum's eyes."

Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise. I demand that you leave at once, sit!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"

"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked a gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room. Harry wondered when and why exactly had uncle Vernon procured a gun.

"Anyway -– Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys," a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here -– I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right." From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box.

Harry opened it with trembling fingers. It was his first ever birthday gift. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing. Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you? Are you magical?"

The giant chuckled. "True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."

The smile that lit-up Harry's face would have probably made even someone just coming back from a funeral to smile. Harry finally got the thoughts whirring around his mind under control and asked the question he desperately wanted to ask. "So all this magic stuff is true then and I really am a wizard?"

"Of course it is……"began Hagrid."Now wait jus' one second!"

He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole house. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall. "Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy -– this boy! – knows nothing' abou' -– about ANYTHING?"

"Hey," Harry began indignantly. "I realized that I am wizard after reading my letter didn't I. All right I may not about anything else about magic but I can learn can't I? I mean that is what school is for isn't it?."

But Hagrid kept on shaking his head. "But yeh must know about yet mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."

"What? My -– my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"

"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.

Boy Harry thought this was getting weirder by the second. He's never heard of his parents he barely knows their names, but now a stranger, a stranger who felt really familiar for some reason comes along and tells him that his parents are famous. The next thing he's going to hear is that he too is famous.

"My parents didn't die in a car-crash did they?" Harry asked the question that had been clawing him since months now.

"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"

"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.

The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.

"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh -– but someone's gotta -– yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'." He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys. "Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh -– mind, I can't tell yeh everything', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it..."

He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with-– with a person called -– but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows--"

"Who? "

"Well -– I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."

"Why not?"

"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went... bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was..." Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.

"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.

"Nah -can't spell it. All right -– Voldemort. " Hagrid shuddered. "Don't make me say it again. Anyway, this -– this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too -– some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches... terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him -– an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway. Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side. Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' -– an' --"

Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn. "Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad -– knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find -– anyway..." "You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then -– an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing -– he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a Powerful, evil curse touches yeh -– took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even -– but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age -– the McKinnon's, the Bones, the Prewett's -– an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."

For the first time that Harry could remember he saw the green light with much more clarit and heard the laughter. But it wasn't the warm laughter of enjoyment but a high cruel laughter and it gave him the creeps.

Hagrid continued sadly. "Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..."

"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the

Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched. "Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured -– and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion -– asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types -– just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end --"

But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley -I'm warning you -– one more word... "

In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.

"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.

Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them."But what happened to Vol--, sorry -– I mean, You-Know-Who?"

"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful -– why'd he go? Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don reckons they could've done if he was comin' back. "Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on -– I dunno what it was, no one does -– but somethin' about you stumped him, all right. You wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."

But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.

"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it"

"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter' s son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had Albus Dumbled--"

"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL to TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.

But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head,

"NEVER," he thundered, "– INSULT– ALBUS– DUMBLEDORE– IN– FRONT– OF– ME!"

He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley -– there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.

Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.

Hagrid stroked his beard and mumbled to himself about not losing him temper and then looked down to Harry, "You do want to go to Hogwarts don't you?" Without hesitation Harry nodded his head. "Well then lets go and buy your school-things shall we. C'mon hurry up."

As Harry was changing he heard Hagrid bellow out to the Dursleys something about him getting his own room and not a damn cupboard. As he was dressing into Dudley's old clothes he realised something that made his heart sink……again.

"Er, Hagrid I don't have any money. How am I going to buy anything?"

"Don't yer worry Harry yer parents left you lots of money in Gringotts. That's the wizard bank run by goblins so money and belongings in it are very very safe. They have spells and enchantments and even dragons guarding high security vaults."

Passersby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"

"Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "did you say there are dragons at Gringotts?"

"Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."

"You'd like one?"

"Wanted one ever since I was a kid -– here we go."

They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets. People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent.

They finally reached London and Hagrid took Harry to the Leaky Cauldron, a pub which acted as the gateway to Diagon Alley, the magical part of London. Hagrid said that the pub was rather famous, it looked rather dodgy to Harry but he followed Hagrid inside.

For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"

"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.

"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this -– can this be --?"

The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.

"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter... what an honor." He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes. "Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."

Hagrid was beaming.

Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.

"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."

"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."

"Always wanted to shake your hand -– I'm all of a flutter."

"Delighted, Mr. Potter just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."

"I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."

"He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!" Harry shook hands again and again -– Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.

A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.

"Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."

"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p– pleased I am to meet you."

"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"

"D-Defense against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it. "N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought. But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.

"Must get on -– lots ter buy. Come on, Harry."

Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.

Hagrid grinned at Harry. "Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh -– mind you, he's usually tremblin'."

"Is he always that nervous?" Professor Quirrell gave Harry a bad feeling for some reason.

"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience... They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag -– never been the same since. Scared of the students, scared of his own subject now, where's me umbrella?" Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming. Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.

"Three up... two across." he muttered."Right, stand back, Harry."

He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella.

The brick he had touched quivered -– it wriggled -– in the middle, a small hole appeared – it grew wider and wider -– a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.

"Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."

Harry's first impression of the magical part of London was that it still had the quaint Victorian-era look to it and instead of making it look old-fashioned it made Diagon alley look regal.

"Well yer be needing a cauldron too Harry," Hagrid said watching Harry eye the cauldron shop. "But first we need to get yer money."

Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad..."

A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium -– Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand -– fastest ever --" There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon...

"Gringotts," said Hagrid. They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was a-

"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.

A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Hagrid and Harry made for the counter.

"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."

"You have his key, Sir?"

"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.

"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.

The goblin looked at it closely. "That seems to be in order."

"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the you Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."

The goblin read the letter carefully. "Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"

Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.

"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.

"Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."

Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in -– Hagrid with some difficulty -– and were off.

At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible. The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.

Hagrid looked very green by the time the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall; Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling. Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.

"All yours," smiled Hagrid.

All Harry's -– it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London.

Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag. "The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms; we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"

"One speed only," said Griphook.

Harry thought that Griphook was having a bit of fun at Hagrid's expense. He was sure that Griphook could control the speed of the cart. After-all it would be rather bad for business if too many wizards didn't like the cart-ride. They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.

Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.

"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.

"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook.

"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked.

"About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.

Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least -– but at first he thought it was empty. Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor. Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask. "Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid.

One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many

Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life -– more money than even Dudley had ever had.

"Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron?

I hate them Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.

The encounter with the pale-faced, platinum haired boy in Madam Malkin's left a sour taste in Harry's mouth. The boy had not only insulted Hagrid but was also going on and on about how muggleborns should not be allowed and stuff like that which sounded really prejudiced to Harry. His description of the houses made Harry feel that he didn't want to be in Slytherin at all. Harry had a feeling that the boy was not going to be Harry's friend at Hogwarts.

FRIENDS. Yes that was going to be a new concept to Harry. He never had a friend till date thanks to Dudley and the Dursleys but he wondered if things were going to be different in the magical world. Of course, they were going to be different; he was a superhero in the magical world. People literally revered him as he had seen in the Leaky Cauldron. Harry thought he didn't really deserve any of this, after all he barely remembered anything from that day except for the green light and the cruel laughter. He sighed out loudly; he might end up with no friends in the magical world but for completely different reasons.

Noticing Harry's quiet thoughtfulness Hagrid asked him; "What's bothering yer Harry? You can talk to me whenever you want yer know."

"What's Hogwarts like Hagrid? Who are the other professors? Where exactly is it? What are the other students like?" Harry asked hoping for some extra information.

"Well ter tell yer frankly you should experience Hogwarts for yerself rather than listen to somebody else's description of Hogwarts, Harry. I will tell yer this much it is simply beautiful and you will meet the teachers in the first week. As to where is Hogwarts, I believe it's in Scotland."

"What are the students like? I mean, I have been quite a loner in school so far. Do you think you know……" Harry asked not quite managing to finish his question.

"Ah don't yer worry Harry I am telling ya, yer already famous, I am sure you will find enough friends who will look beyond yer fame and be good friends to you. It will depend on which house you end up in but there are good people in all the houses. If you are yer in Gryffindor, that's the old house of yer parents you might be friends with the Weasleys. I think they got a boy coming in this year and a daughter the next. The Weasley twins are in already. Stay alert when you are around them though, a bunch of real pranksters they are. Red-haired demons I tell yer those twins."

Harry's ears prickled-up at the sound of the daughter for some reason, almost as if he was forgetting something about her. Strange, Harry thought considering that he was very sure that he had never heard of or met the Weasley's before. But the thought of the Weasley girl spread a warm feeling inside his stomach, a feeling which Harry couldn't quite identify but he liked that feeling.

They got Harry's books next where Harry picked up a lot of extra-reading material. He picked up a book which was supposed to give basic information to muggleborns wizards and to Hagrid's surprise he decided to purchase a lot of Potions' books including the ones assigned up to the 4th year as he found it really, really fascinating. Hagrid only shook his head muttering about getting Lily's brains along with her eyes which for some reason made Harry heart swell to the size of a football.

Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, ("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop). Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again.

"Just yer wand left – A yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."

Harry felt himself go red. "You don't have to --"

"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at – an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls; they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."

Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell.

"Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now – only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."

A magic wand... this was what Harry had been really looking forward to. The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: **Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C**. A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.

A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.

"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair. An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.

"Hello," said Harry awkwardly.

"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. "You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work." Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy. "Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it -– it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."

Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.

"And that's where..."

Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger. "I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..."

He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid. "Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again... Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"

"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.

"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.

"Er -– yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.

"But you don't use them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.

"Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke. He had a sneaking suspicion where the missing pieces were concealed.

"Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. "Well, now -– Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"

"Er -– well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.

"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."

Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, was doing this on its own. Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.

"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave."

Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.

"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try --"

Harry tried -– but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.

"No, no -here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, and try it out."

Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become. "Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere -– I wonder, now – – yes, why not -– unusual combination -– holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

Harry took the wand. He felt sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious... "

He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering,

"Curious...curious….

"Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?"

Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare. "I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather -– just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother why, its brother gave you that scar."

Harry swallowed and he was suddenly very afraid. "You mean that in the future I will become like….."

Mr. Ollivander's voice suddenly became very serious; "Mr. Potter no one can ever predict the future. You getting the brother of the Dark Lord's wand does not entail that you will become like him. The wand chooses the wizard mind you not the other way round. It only means that you are destined to do great things Mr. Potter. The Dark Lord did many cruel things Mr. Potter but magically great things. Don't let the wand influence you in any way let your heart and brain influence you in tandem and you will never go wrong."

Harry shivered and yet felt better than he did a couple of minutes before. He paid for the wand and then Hagrid and he made their way back to the subway to take a train to Surrey.

Harry and Hagrid looked rather peculiar carrying packages of weird shapes and sizes not to mention Hagrid's size. Hagrid bought him a hamburger and then gave the Hogwarts Express' train ticket to Harry. As he sat in the tube-train Harry was very thoughtful. He realised that when he went to Hogwarts a lot of people were going to expect a lot of things from him; if Professor Quirrell and Mr. Ollivander were anything to go by. It scared him frankly but it also gave him a strange thrill. He promised himself that he would try his best to meet as many expectations as possible. Well expectations which would satisfy his heart and brain at least. He knew that his parents would have wanted that.

As Harry prepared to sleep in Dudley's second bedroom that night (the Dursleys it seemed were rather afraid of Hagrid) he realised that all considered it had been his best birthday ever.


	4. Ginny and Hogwarts

The last month at the Dursleys was total bliss for Harry. The entire Dursley family was ignoring Harry like the plague now. In addition to receiving Dudley's second bedroom he did not even have to do the chores anymore either. Harry spent all his time immersed in reading the books he had bought in Diagon Alley. He started with reading the guidebook meant for the muggleborns first. Potions really appealed to Harry as he devoured all the four books within two weeks and to his surprise he could remember almost everything in those books. After reading up the Charms, Transfiguration and Defence books Harry decided to skip the History book and instead owl-order some more Potion books.

So thus '**Hedwig**' Harry's snowy owl got her first assignment. Harry had literally fallen in love with his owl. Harry considered her to be his second friend; Hagrid was deemed to be the first one. He used to spend hours talking with her and to his surprise Hedwig actually seemed to understand him. She used different hoots to almost 'say' different things. The yes-no hoots were rather simple to understand but Harry couldn't quite understand anything else. But Harry could comprehend her feelings quite easily. Like when he had got tired of researching for a name he had wondered out loud about simply calling her Snowy she had gave him such a withering look that Harry had started researching again instantly. She also seemed to hate her cage. Harry wasted no time in getting rid of the cage and to his surprise Hedwig started following him around like his guardian angel whenever he went outside, sometimes flying over his head and sometime sitting regally on his shoulder.

Harry was fascinated by all the subjects he had to study. Transfiguration seemed difficult to Harry, charms simple yet vast, defence it seemed needed a combination of almost all the subjects besides knowing the curses and jinxes, but it seemed that they were going to have only theoretical studies in the first year in Defence against the Dark arts. Herbelogy, though not so appealing to Harry he felt was rather important for potions. Potions. He simply had come to adore it. He had literally devoured the potion books, reading and re-reading them again and again.

It was in the final week of August that an uneasy feeling that he had for quite some time manifested itself into a coherent doubt. He suddenly wondered why in the world had his parents allocated the Dursleys as his guardians since they clearly hated his parents and seemed extremely magic-phobic. Dumbledore; Harry remembered Hagrid saying something about his headmaster placing him with the Dursleys. Harry wondered whether his parents had left behind a will or something. They had to have otherwise he would not have had the vault. Harry had a very strong desire to read that will. Almost as if he would regain some lost touch with his parents if he did so. But whom to ask? The introductory book had said that legal matters were generally stored in Gringotts. Yes he would have to ask someone at the Bank.

Finally after much thought he decide to ask Griphook as he was the only goblin whom Harry really knew or rather the only goblin whose name Harry knew. So he drafted a letter to Griphook.

_Dear.._

Naah Harry thought "Dear' would not go down too well with the goblins.

_Respected Griphook,_

_My name is Harry Potter. You may not _

_remember me but you took me to my vault on the 31__st__ of July. I am writing to you because I actually wanted help from Gringotts but I do not know anyone else to approach. I sincerely hope that I did not disrespect you in any manner. I read that the last will and testament of wizards are kept at the bank. So I was hoping that I could perhaps get to read the wills of my parents; James and Lily Potter. If you could perhaps point me to the correct person to contact I shall be highly indebted to you for your help._

_Thanking you,_

_Harry Potter._

Harry hoped that Griphook or somebody from the bank would indeed reply but he was quite surprised that he received a reply exactly eight hours after sending off the original letter with Hedwig. There were two letters with the owl. One with the Gringotts seal and the other was a plain envelope. Harry opened the one which had the Gringotts seal on it. It was from a goblin but not from Griphook.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_We at Gringotts always strive to serve our customers the best in every possible way. You are correct when you assume that the wills of wizards are stored at Gringotts. As the sole heir of the Potters, it is within your full rights to ask for the wills of your parents. Your parents had a joint will which was submitted under the bearing of the 'Head of the Potter House'. That will has been attached with this letter._

_In the future if you have any queries or need any help regarding anything not only matters regarding to Gringotts do not hesitate to owl me. In addition to being the manager of Gringotts I am also the account manager of the Potter Vault and have been so for many years now so my relations with the Potter family have been quite close. Please consider me as your friend._

_Yours,_

_Ragnok._

Harry read the letter and felt quite surprised. From whatever he had read about goblins so far they did not come across as someone who had very good personal relations with wizards. But he pushed that to the back of his mind, he had bigger things to consider right now. Hands trembling he opened the second envelope and started reading.

_To whomsoever it may concern,_

_We, James and Lily Potter as the Heads of the Potter house in our right mind and out of our own free will would like to have the following actions taken in case of the untimely death of both of us._

_Harry James Potter our son is to receive the entire contents of the Potter vault along with all the Potter properties after he attains majority at the age of seventeen years. Until then a separate trust fund vault is to be set up to make provisions for his minor-years._

_Also in the case that Harry James Potter is a minor at the time of out deaths, his godfather Sirius Orion Black be given full guardianship status of Harry. If he is not able to take those responsibilities his godmother Alice Longbottom is to be given his guardianship status. If she is not able to take those responsibilities either Remus John Lupin is to be given his guardianship status._

_Yours,_

_Lily and James Potter._

Harry was beyond shocked after reading his parents' will. He had a legal godfather. A legal godmother. A guardian appointee to top off his god-parents. He had a house, perhaps many houses if the word 'properties' could be interpreted. Yet he was at the Dursleys. Yet he was 'placed' at the Dursleys by Dumbledore. The anger that Harry seemed was beyond measurement. It was like hot lava was coursing through his body. Then he felt the now almost familiar spike of energy which shattered the window pane and it was then that he cooled down a bit. He couldn't believe it; why had the headmaster placed him with his aunt and uncle when they were not even mentioned in his parents' will? He felt like doing some real grievous harm to Dumbledore.

Then he remembered Hagrid stoutly defending the headmaster. Hagrid seemed to be trusting him implicitly. Also if he was not wrong from the many notations below Dumbledore's name in the letter he seemed too be trusted by many people. Harry decided that there must have been some reason for him to be at the Dursleys instead of the persons mentioned in his parents' will. He was suddenly quite glad that Ragnok had mentioned about asking for his help at anytime. He took up that offer in a trice and composed a letter asking about his godparents and Remus Lupin and hoped that Ragnok would provide some answers.

Harry had a very uneasy sleep that night and he was awake by 7:00AM hoping against hope that there would be a letter from Ragnok waiting for him. Even Hedwig could apparently sense his unease for she periodically gave calming hoots. By noon a small speck could be seen on the horizon which was becoming bigger and bigger and finally Harry could make it out to be an owl. He literally snatched the letter from the owl and thrust some owl-treats at her. Hedwig hooted an ardent apology to the slightly disgruntled owl for Harry's behaviour. Harry tore open the letter and started reading.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_From your letter it seems that you are quite distressed so let me get straight to the point. Chief Warlock Dumbledore has not purposely kept you away from your godparents. Your godparents are simply in no position to accept your guardianship. _

_Mr. Black is currently serving a life sentence in prison for mass-murdering muggles. Ms. Longbottom and her husband are both permanent members of the St. Mungos spell-damage ward as they were cursed by Death-eaters and have irreversible memory loss as well as suffer from insanity._

_Mr. Lupin on the other hand is very much alive however he is not legally permitted to get your guardianship. Mr. Lupin suffers from being a werewolf and hence is legally not allowed your guardianship._

_Thus you see Mr. Potter; the Chief Warlock had no other option. I hope this has indeed allayed all your concerns. Thank You for entrusting me your confidence. I can assure any exchanges that we conduct will remain completely confidential._

_Yours,_

_Ragnok._

A lot calmer Harry dashed Ragnok a note thanking him for his prompt help and then decided to go to his woods to do some thinking. Thinking over Ragnok's last few lines Harry suspected that he had inadvertently revealed a lot more things in his letter then he wanted to. His thoughts turned to his godparents and his insides freezed up. His godfather was a mass-murderer and serving a life-sentence. Remus Lupin was a werewolf. His godmother was a victim of death-eaters and completely insane. His parents were murdered by Voldemort. Boy he had some luck with parents and guardians. Shaking his head he wondered why in the world had his parents appointed a mass-murderer as his godfather or a werewolf as a guardian. He wondered what his parents were really like. He wanted to write to the only person who seemed alive, Remus Lupin but he didn't. Strangely Harry didn't mind the fact that he was a werewolf but he felt a bit betrayed by him that he had never even come to visit him. He was almost feeling that he should have never read the will. But the milk was already spilt there was no use crying over it now. Finding no answers for his own questions he drifted off to sleep in the woods.

During Harry's last dinner at Privet Drive Harry suddenly realised that he needed to hitch a ride to London the next day. He decided to chance it and ask his uncle. "Uncle Vernon, I need to get to Kings Cross, London tomorrow to catch the train to my school. Can you drop me there tomorrow?"

His uncle only nodded in assent. He still seemed pretty scared of Hagrid. "From which platform does the train leave anyway boy?"

"From platform nine and three quarters." Harry said remembering the strange platform number.

His uncle suddenly had a maniacal glimmer in his eyes." Which platform boy? Nine and three quarters?" He seemed to think about something, "All right I will take you but it is your responsibility to find the platform." He said with that mad gleam of his.

Harry didn't have a good feeling about that but he pushed it to the back of his mind, thanked his uncle and went off to finish his packing.

The next day to Harry's surprise the entire Dursley family turned up to accompany him to Kings Cross. Dudley and Uncle Vernon could barely conceal their smiles which made Harry very, very nervous. To top it off Uncle Vernon actually helped Harry get his enormous trunk into the boot of the car. The ride to London was dead silent with Dudley shooting Harry nasty smiles. They reached Kings Cross with some time to spare. Uncle Vernon helped Harry get his luggage into a luggage cart and then took it himself up to platform number 9 and then gave Harry a maniacal smile.

"Well boy here is platform number 9 and the next one is platform number 10. Your platform would be somewhere in the middle but they haven't built it as yet. This is where we leave you boy. See you next summer."

By the time the full implications of his uncle's words hit him the Dursleys had completely disappeared. Harry was in a full panic mode. His uncle was right there was no platform nine and three quarters. He decided to ask a conductor who was just walking past him. But the conductor had never heard of such a platform and muttered something about pranksters. Harry took a deep breath and decided to calm himself. The Hogwarts express left at 11'o clock. He still had almost 20 minutes to find the platform. He realised that there were bound to be some students who would still arrive he decided to wait for some time.

After 5 minutes and no-one approaching Harry began to panic again. He was just debating about sending Hedwig who was perched on his shoulder off with a letter to Hagrid when he heard, "…packed with muggles of course…." And his heart gave a leap. There was a big group of people who were obviously wizards as they had an owl with them. He decided to follow the group of people who all had vivid red hair.

He barely heard their conversation as he was trying to intently watch one who looked like the oldest boy walk straight towards the wall between platforms 9 and 10 and then suddenly he disappeared. Then there were two very similar looking boys who were cracking some jokes at the expense of the woman, they walked up to the wall and disappeared too and yet Harry could not understand how the door or whatever it was worked. Just as the last tall and gangly boy started walking towards the wall Harry walked towards the plump woman who seemed to be their mother.

"Excuse me mam, er the thing is I need to get onto the platform…"

"But you don't ……" the plump woman started to reply. But at that very moment the young girl with the woman looked up at Harry rather Harry looked at her, into her eyes and the world seemed to melt into oblivion at that moment. Harry's breath got caught. His body seemed to have frozen over; he simply could make no movement. A warm feeling was spreading through his stomach. He simply couldn't tear away his eyes away from hers as if they were magnetically attracted to each other. Her coffee brown eyes had the depths of the deepest well and yet laughter seemed to flit over them. Her hair was a just the correct shade of red, Harry thought. Her creamy complexion was sprinkled with freckles which simply made her look very adorable. The feeling that was sweeping through his body was something that he had never ever felt before. His heart, it seemed was beating at the full tilt humanly possible. It made him feel as if his heart had swelled to the size of a football and it was beating so fast it felt like someone was continuously kicking it. He felt a rush of emotions which confused him greatly. He felt 'complete' when he was looking at her and it seemed to Harry that he had a crush on her. No it was not a crush. No he liked her. No he didn't simply like her. He loved her. What the!! Suddenly the very feeling which had just made him so happy and contented made him dead afraid. He had never ever met her. He was barely an 11-year old boy and he was not supposed to love girls like that and certainly not when her mother was trying to explain him something.

That thought shook Harry out of trance that he had found himself in. He realised that he had completely missed the woman's information and he looked at her with a confused expression on his face.

The woman seemed to think that he was afraid and very kindly explained again; "It's all right, don't be afraid just run confidently at the wall and you will go through it."

It seemed to Harry that the woman had not noticed Harry's attention to her daughter. He thanked his good luck and the woman. "Er thank you mam. I will just try it. Thanks again, for helping me." He took another look at the girl which made his heart thump madly again, took a deep breath to calm his nerves and ran off at the wall and to his relief he really did cross it.

As he came onto the platform his eyes fell on a steaming scarlet engine which seemed to be the Hogwarts express. It was a beautiful sight. 'But not as beautiful as the girl'; a small voice inside his head seemed to say. Harry was practically terrified now. What was happening to him? As he looked back he saw the woman and the girl come onto the platform. Not trusting himself to be able to control his actions if he looked at her again before quickly making his way to the last compartment and tried to get his luggage into the compartment.

Try as hard as he could he couldn't get his huge trunk which was filled with one extra book too many, on to the train. Just as he was cursing his luck the two similar looking boys who were with the woman approached him.

"Hey let us help you with that. You will never get it on the train otherwise;" they said jovially. It was then that Harry realised that they were not simply similar looking but they were twins who looked exactly like each other and they were red-haired.

"The Weasley twins." Harry said out aloud without realising it.

"Hey, how do..." began one of them; "…know our names?" finished the other one.

Harry remembered what Hagrid had told him about them. They liked to play jokes and yet they seemed rather helpful. Harry simply couldn't let go of what seemed to be a perfect opportunity to crack a joke at their expense and thinking quickly he surprised even himself. "Well you were mentioned in my letter you see. The deputy headmistress, I forgot her name had warned about you guys in the letter. She said something about you playing practical jokes on everyone and so the younger students should be careful around you."

"My god Gred our reputation seems to have sky-rocketed;" said one of the twins. "You can say that Forge who knew dear old McGonagall was so anxious about our antics!" Finished the other twin.

Harry simply could not control his laughter anymore and burst out laughing. He twins looked at each other and then looked at Harry with a strange look of pride on their face and started laughing out aloud too.

"Merlin's beard Gred we have been socked and conned by a first year;" began one twin. "That too before he got onto the train, Forge. Who are you Dumbledore in disguise? He's the only one whom we can never fool." Finished the second one.

"Er, no I am not Dumbledore. My name's Harry Potter." Said Harry extending his hand forward.

If the twins had looked surprised when they realised that they had been fooled they looked as if someone had just literally physically socked them.

"You are kidding right?" one of them began unsure of himself. "You mean you are that Harry Potter with the scar and all?" finished the other one again. This was getting damn confusing for Harry.

Harry nodded and simply lifted up his hair and showed them the scar. The twins were literally beyond shock when they heard their names being called out. "Well Harry that's our mum calling us we will get back."

As Harry settled in the last compartment he looked out of the window and saw the Weasleys gathered around their mother and the girl who it seemed was not coming to Hogwarts this year. Harry felt really sad at that. He heard the twins telling their mother about him.

"Hey mum do you know who the black-haired kid near us at the entrance was?" began one twin and the question was finished by the other one.

"Who was it Fred? I hope you have not been troubling him already."

"We troubling anyone? You hurt us mother-dear. In fact he played a prank on us. He told us that we were mentioned in his Hogwarts letter and Professor McGonagall had warned the first years to be careful around us. We believed it for a moment and then he started laughing." This declaration brought about a stunned silence in the group, nobody had ever fooled Fred and George, physically pranked them yes but never fooled them and then everyone started laughing out aloud.

"Oh stop laughing will you. He is not just any boy. He is Harry Potter. We saw his scar and all." This declaration from the twins stunned the group into silence once again.

It was the girl who screamed out aloud, "Mum can I go and meet him, please."

"Don't be silly Ginny;" began the mother. "He's just a normal boy and you should treat him that way. He was so very polite when he asked me how to get onto the platform. I wonder where his relatives where? Fred and George you will not trouble him. Is that clear."

"Trouble him mum! He's a boy after our very own heart."

The train's whistle sounded and Mrs. Weasley quickly ushered her kids in to the train. "Now have a good term all of you. Take care of your brothers Percy. And Fred and George I don't want anymore owls telling me about a blown-up toilet seat."

"We will try not to get caught mum." The twins replied solemnly. The girl, Ginny Harry reminded himself looked like she was on the verge of tears. As the train set off she started running after it, waving the boys goodbye.

Harry settled down into his compartment and breathed a sigh of relief. It had been one hell of a morning. Starting from uncle Vernon's scheme to him meeting the girl. Ginny. Harry could hardly get her name out of his mind. He had barely looked at her for 10-seconds but her face seemed to have been engrained and embossed in his brain. It scared him and yet made him very happy. Boy it was all confusing. The twins seemed to be really jovial. The eldest brother looked like a book-worm and the tall gangly one who was in Harry's year looked a bit nervous. Their mother seemed to be a very kind and considerate woman. He was already starting to like the Weasleys.

At that moment the door to the compartment opened up and the tall gangly boy came in. "Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full."

"Sure. It's not like I have any other company."

"My name is Ron. Ron Weasley."

"I am Harry Potter."

"Are you really? I mean the twins came out claiming that they were pranked by Harry Potter but they are….you know…."

Harry once again lifted his hair and showed Ron his scar. "Yeah I guess I am Harry Potter but don't set store too much by it. I am just a normal boy. I can barely remember what I am famous for. So….."

"Oh that's all right I guess."

Just then the twins barged in. "Harry my boy and Ronnikens you two are sharing a compartment! Excellent! We didn't introduce ourselves earlier did we Harry. I am Fred and this is George. And let us congratulate you on being the first person to fool us." They said solemnly. Harry and Ron simply laughed and the twins followed suit soon. "How did you know us anyway?"

"Oh, Hagrid told me about you two. He took me to Diagon Alley you see. He was telling me about the students in Hogwarts and you two did get a special mention. Little red-devils he called you."

"Ah atleast one staff-member agrees that we are devils! Well see you around Harry. We hope you get into Gryffindor too. Ciao!"

Harry spent an enjoyable morning and the major part of afternoon discussing Hogwarts, the houses there and the rest of the Weasley family with Ron. Harry was surprised to know that there were actually six brothers and a sister in their family. Ginny who was the youngest and was to start Hogwarts the next year and Harry felt a lot better on hearing that. Ron it seemed had a lot to prove with his elder brothers excelling in many things. Ron also explained to Harry about the wizarding game 'Quidditch' which was a game played on flying broom-sticks. When the lunch trolley rolled by Harry got a bit of every sweet available. The sweets were quite different than the ones Harry had seen in the non-magical world and he wanted to try out each one of them.

Ron became very uncomfortable when Harry and got those sweets and mumbled something about having got sandwiches from home. Harry was quick to realise that Ron didn't buy any sweets because he didn't have any money and he immediately shared all his sweets and some of his memories with the Dursleys with him. Ron was surprised to know that Harry had barely even touched any money until he got to Gringotts and how he had to wear Dudley's old cast-offs. Ron's mood seemed to have taken a turn for better after that. While eating Chocolate Frogs Harry came across a famous wizard card belonging to Albus Wulfric Brian Percival Dumbledore and he was surprised when the photo disappeared from the frame. They were visited by a bossy bushy-haired girl know as Hermione and a podgy-faced boy known as Neville who had lost his toad. Hermione seemed to be rather interested in Harry as she had read about him in quite a lot of books. Both Ron and Harry thought that she was really crazy, perhaps brilliant as she had read and memorized every assigned book but still crazy.

It was late in the afternoon when the compartment door was thrown open and the pale-faced boy that Harry had seen in Madam Malkin's stepped in flanked by two gargantuan boys who looked like they had been picked up straight from the stone-age.

"People are saying that this is the compartment where Harry Potter is." He then looked at Ron and wrinkled his nose and then moved his eyes to Harry. "So you are the one. I am Malfoy. Draco Malfoy and these are Goyle and Crabbe." Malfoy said cocking his head towards each of the apes.

Ron snorted at this and Malfoy turned to him again. "You would be a Weasley. My father has told me all about you. All red-haired with ugly freckles and poor like church mice with more kids than they can afford. You are making some bad friends Potter. Let me help you there." Draco said extending his hand at that.

Harry looked at Malfoy and his extended hand. He didn't dislike the pale-faced boy now, he hated him. For some reason he felt very protective of the Weasley family. "Don't ever insult the Weasleys again Malfoy. They are worth much more than you seem to be. And I can tell who can be a good friend on my own, now get out."

Malfoy looked like he had been slapped on the face. "Be careful Potter, you have made a very powerful enemy today. If you keep on hanging around riff-raff like the Weasleys you will meet the same sticky end as your parents did. The pure-bloods and the rich.……"

But Malfoy never got another word out of his mouth. Harry had enough of the Dursleys insulting his parents. He got on his feet lightning quick, wound-up his arm and before Malfoy even realised that he was in danger he was on the floor, his nose broken and his robes were being splattered with blood. "Never insult my parents again Malfoy or a broken nose will be the least of your worries."

It looked like Malfoy had gone into shock and did not move for a few seconds. Then he started screaming. "Oh no I am dying! Someone help me. I am going to die…." Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other for a moment and then bent down to lift up Malfoy and carried him back to their compartment.

Ron was looking at Harry with a look that had a mixture of laughter, pride and confusion. "I can't believe you just punched Malfoy and I can't believe that he screams like a girl!!" Both Harry and Ron burst out laughing, laughing loudly and they could barely stop when Hermione stepped into their compartment.

"Why are you laughing so loudly? It is impolite according to the book that I read on manners and courtesy" Harry and Ron looked at her with mouths wide open and then started laughing again.

Hermione only sniffed at that. "Have you been fighting here, because a boy with a broken nose is complaining about it to the conductor?"

Ron stopped laughing but Harry replied without missing a beat. "Us fighting and breaking a nose! Do any of us look like having enough strength to break someone's nose? I know I am supposed to be a super-hero and all but I am not Superman you know."

Hermione clearly didn't believe that. "Well get changed into your uniform. I asked the conductor, he said we will be reaching Hogwarts shortly."

Ron looked dead afraid. "We are going to be in such trouble. That too before reaching Hogwarts. What if they expel us?"

Harry's insides clamped up at that he started panicking. If he was expelled he would have to go back to the Dursleys. Oh no! He took a deep breath and calmed himself and thought rationally. "They won't expel us for just a punch Ron. If the school that I attended before is any indication, there wouldn't be any students left in the school if they started expelling students for punching each other and I did all the punching. You were just an innocent bystander. So don't worry and cheer up." Harry assured Ron and started putting on his uniform.

Ron looked thoughtful at that and started dressing too. "Why did you defend me and my family Harry? You barely know me for 5-hours and you have barely talked with anyone else."

As Harry pondered over the answer he couldn't really place why he felt so protective of the Weasleys. Then one face bobbed up into his mind. The cute freckled face of Ginny Weasley. Startled he shook his head as if to clear his mind but he realised that it was the truth. He felt protective of the Weasleys because he loved Ginny. Aargh! He screamed mentally. He didn't, he couldn't love a girl like that. He needed to think, think a lot over it but Ron was looking at him, waiting for an answer.

"I will tell you honestly Ron; very few people have ever been really decent to me. Without even knowing who I was your mother helped me get onto the platform. When I met the twins I don't know what overcame me but I instinctively pranked them and they took it in great spirit and didn't make me feel uncomfortable even after knowing that I was Harry Potter. You and I have been talking absolutely normally for the last few hours; I have never done that before. Either the Dursleys were being mean to me or like Hermione and others in Diagon Alley they were treating me like some great super-hero when I don't even remember the event for which I am famous except for a lot of green light. So I can't really explain it but I just didn't like you and your family being insulted."

Ron nodded and looked impressed. "The Malfoy's have a real bad reputation you know. I mean they have all money, power and stuff but they were huge supporters of You-know-who. All Slytherins to the core. Dad said Malfoy's father was right in it but escaped by throwing around his money."

Ron was interrupted by a magnified voice announcing that they would be reaching Hogwarts within 10-minutes and that their luggage was supposed to be left in the train.

It was almost dark when the train stopped and the students got out of the train. Harry told Hedwig to fly off to hunt if she wanted to and Hedwig promptly took the opportunity. Ron looked rather amused that Harry talked to Hedwig and that Hedwig did not even have her own cage. The platform was a sea of black robes and there was almost an orchestra of hoots, croaking and meows. Harry heard a loud familiar voice near one end of the platform.

"First years this way. Here, First years come this way yer all." It was Hagrid. Harry literally ran towards him and greeted him.

"Well Harry, get into those boats out there. And only four to a boat." He hollered out the last part for everyone's benefit.

Harry and Ron got into a boat and they were followed in by Hermione and Neville whose toad was finally found by Hagrid. After Hagrid confirmed that everyone was in the boats he tapped his pink umbrella on the boats and they set off across the lake. As they started going around a bend, Hagrid warned them to look out for their first view of the Hogwarts castle.

Hagrid was right, Harry thought. You needed to see Hogwarts for yourself. It really was stunning. The castle was enormous and the lake seemed to cover two sides of the castle. It was lit up in all it's glory. It looked imposing yet familiar. Harry knew that he was going to like it here.

They had reached an alcove and Hagrid knocked his enormous fists on the doors and they opened momentarily. "The first years, Professor McGonagall."

Professor McGonagall a tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there.

She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.

"Thank you Hagrid I will take it from here." She said sternly.

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right -the rest of the school must already be here -– but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting. I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

"How do they sort into the houses?" Harry asked nervously suddenly wishing he had memorized all his books as Hermione as did. He hoped the fact that he practically had all the Potions books assigned to Hogwarts memorized.

"I don't know." Ron replied nervously. "Fred and George were going on and on how about they put you through a test which hurts a lot but I think they were lying." Ron stopped when Professor McGonagall returned and asked all the students to follow her.

Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Harry spotted Dumbledore at the table and wondered whether he would answer some of his question but those thoughts were driven away when they stopped moving right in front of the High-table. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight.

Dotted here and there among the students, were the ghosts who had met with the first years just before Professor McGonagall had returned. They shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in **Hogwarts a History**." It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens.

Out of the corner of his eyes Harry saw the Professor lay down a stool and a hat on top of it and then she waited expectantly as if waiting for something to happen. The hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house.

Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Harry thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing -– noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth -– and the hat began to sing:

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true and unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

"So you only have to put on the hat;" began Ron. "I am going to kill Fred." But he stopped when Professor McGonagall started calling out students' name.

Abbot, Hannah became a Hufflepuff and a table to the right started cheering followed by Bones, Susan who also became a Hufflepuff. Harry decided to follow Hermione's example and started mentally revising everything that he could remember. He only looked up when Ron groaned as Hermione Granger became a Gryffindor and saw the Gryffindor table cheer wildly. Then Harry's insides froze when he heard the name 'Longbottom, Neville'. It was the podgy faced boy. Could it be that he was Alice Longbottom's son. No wonder he looked so unsure of himself and seemed to lack confidence. The hat took a long time but put Neville in Gryffindor. Malfoy was placed within a trice in Slytherin where he joined Crabbe and Goyle. And then suddenly the Great Hall went dead quite as Professor McGonagall called out Potter, Harry.

Mutterings broke out in the hall. Students were pointing at him. The last thing that Harry saw was students standing up to get a better look at him and then the hat flopped over his eyes.

"_Ah Mr. Potter. I have been waiting for a long time for you."_

"_Yes you and a lot of people, I guess though I think they are not going to be so impressed"_

"_Ah, humility Mr. Potter or are you simply trying to play the underdog?"_

"_Er don't you know exactly what it is? I mean you said that we could keep nothing hidden in our heads."_

"_Yes I did Mr. Potter. I just wanted to be polite. Anyways where should I place you? You are as loyal as a Hufflepuff almost loyal to a fault. You are as brilliant as a Ravenclaw even though you don't believe it yourself. As devious as a Slytherin and as brave as a Gryffindor. Where shall I place you Mr. Potter? All the four houses will suit you like a second skin? Though it will be a tough fight between Gryffindor and Slytherin."_

"_Gryffindor and not Slytherin please. I don't think the Slytherins like me very much and I think the feeling is going to be mutual if the train-ride is anything to go by."_

"_But Slytherin will take you on your way to greatness Mr. Potter"_

"_No thanks, I had rather be a stupid normal boy than a great one and I think I have had enough greatness thrust upon me to last me a lifetime."_

"_But what if I insist on placing you in Slytherin?"_

"_Well I would refuse."_

"_But even then if I insist, Mr. Potter?"_

"_Well then I guess……..Hold on this is a trick question isn't it? If I say yes to Slytherin then you would say that I am brave enough to be in Gryffindor otherwise you will place me in Slytherin."_

"_Ah, Mr. Potter I must be getting old and slow. I didn't see that coming from you. I wish you were a little bit less instinctive otherwise Rowena's house or even Salazar's would have been a really worthy houses for you, but that is not the case and only one house is suitable for you._ **GRYFFINDOR**"

The hat had shouted the last part aloud for the entire hall to hear and immediately cheers broke out at the Gryffindor table. The Weasley twins were screaming at the top of their voices. "We got Potter! We got Potter! We got Potter!" Then when the Hall had become almost silent again to Harry surprise they also shouted out, "He is the only one to ever prank us and that too before getting on the train."

Harry's face went brick red. Professor McGonagall turned around so quickly that Harry was sure that she had snapped her neck. She took another look at him and groaned out loudly enough for the groan to be audible to the entire Great Hall. Then to everyone's utter surprise Professor Dumbledore and some of the other professors and Hagrid started laughing out heartily and loudly which set off the entire Great Hall into a confused laughter.

As the sorting went on Harry sat across the twins and next to the oldest Weasley brother at Hogwarts, Percy who was also a prefect who insisted on shaking hands with him. "Gotcha Harry!" Fred and George exclaimed cheerfully. Harry sent them a mock look of anger and started laughing. Then he nervously hoped that Ron would make it in Gryffindor too. Harry cheered wildly when Ron too made it into Gryffindor. Soon the sorting was over and Dumbledore stood up beaming to give a speech.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not. "Is he -– a bit mad?" he asked Percy uncertainly.

"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"

Harry's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.

The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry, but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry really wanted, even if it made him sick.

Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all delicious.

"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak,

"Can't you --?"

I haven't eaten for nearly four hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you -– you're Nearly Headless Nick!"

"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy --" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan interrupted.

"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"

Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted. "Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So -– new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable -– he's the Slytherin ghost."

Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.

"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.

"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.

When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding -– "

As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families. Neville said that he lived with his grandmother. Yes Harry was now almost convinced that he was indeed Alice Longbottom's son.

On Harry's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons ("I do hope they start right away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult-"; "You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing -– ").

Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin. It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes -– and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead.

"Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head. For a wild moment Harry thought that someone was trying to read his mind but he swept that thought away.

"What is it?" asked Percy.

"N-nothing."

The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the teacher's look -– a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all. "Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked Percy.

"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to -– everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."

Harry watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look at him again.

At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent. "Ahem -– just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year; the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did. "He's not serious?" he muttered to Percy.

"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere -– the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed. After singing the song which Harry thought was rather idiotic but enjoyable all the same he and the other Gryffindor first years followed Percy and another prefect out of the Great Hall and towards the Gryffindor common room. Percy showed them the entrance to the Gryffindor common-room which was guarded by the painting of the fat-lady and to Harry's surprise just like the photographs on the famous wizards' cards the paintings moved and talked too.

The first years were shown into their dormitory and after a few cursory greetings with Dean, Seamus and Neville and after promising to wake up Ron in the morning Harry went to his bed and started changing. By the time he returned from the bathroom Harry could hear two mild snores and two prolific snores. Yes he thought he was the only one awake in his dorm. As he laid down on his bed he started thinking about the day. It was quite a day that he has, had.

He half-wished that he could go back to Number 4 and tell the Dursleys that he had to walk through a wall to get to the platform. That would make the Dursleys mad all-right. Ginny. She kept on popping up in his mind from time to time, almost as if he could not ignore her. He wished that she was with him at Hogwarts but then Ron would not have been there and Harry would not have had his first friend almost best friend now. He really wanted to know her well for some reason and he simply could not explain the feelings that experienced every time he thought about Ginny. How could he love anyone only after meeting her for one time? Well actually he had not even technically met her; he had only seen her once. They hadn't even spoken with each other. Boy his life was confusing! Then there was the professors' reaction after the twins had declared about them being pranked by him. Professor McGonagall almost had a look of Déjà vu on her face. He wished not for the first time that he could talk with someone.

With that thought Harry fell into a blissful sleep in a place which already felt more like home to him than Number 4, Privet Drive ever had.

**A/N**: Well Harry is in Hogwarts now and has even met Ginny. I hope you guys are not disappointed that Ginny and Harry have not hit it off straight away, but it seemed very unnatural to me. They will become close 'very' close if get my drift but I don't think it will be before Ginny is through the chamber of Secrets. Also some of the pranks that Harry will be playing I have borrowed from various fan-fics and some are my original creations. Also I know that I have used some writings straight from canon but you will see that it is getting less and less with every passing chapter. I think within a couple more chapters I will probably stop using it completely. I hope you guys like it and keep on reading it.


	5. Peeves and Snape

Harry's first working day at Hogwarts started off as an 'almost' unqualified disaster to say the least. Till then Harry was under the impression that he was an early riser. That notion was decimated on his first morning at Hogwarts. He realized that he only got up early because aunt Petunia woke him up early. Harry never thought that he would actually miss his aunt after coming to Hogwarts, but life did seem strange. It was a race against time for Harry and Ron to reach the Great Hall in time for breakfast.

As if it wasn't enough that they were going to miss breakfast they got lost in a corridor and came across Peeves. Ron asked him for directions and Peeves very solemnly told them the way, rather 'a' way to the Great Hall. Remembering the ghost's discussion about Peeves loving to play devious pranks on everyone Harry stopped in his tracks and convinced Ron to go in exactly the opposite direction.

It seemed that Peeves didn't like the fact that ickle firsties had not fallen for his hoax and followed them and started pelting them with anything and everything that he could find. From pieces of chalks to mops to scrubbers to buckets he threw everything on Harry and Ron especially, whenever they were trying to negotiate a staircase which moved. As a result they lost track of the direction in which they were supposed to be going. When he finally ran out of things to throw, he miraculously came across an alcove which contained hidden water-balloons and started bombing the two with them and completely soaking them in the process.

Finally Harry lost his temper. "Hey! I know you like tricking students but you are going bloody too far this time. You are going to put us in the Hospital Wing if you don't stop Peeves. What exactly do you want?" His and Ron's uniforms were ruined as they were soaking wet. They had small bruises wherever they had been hit by the projectiles and they were lost literally, like fishes out of water only they probably would not die.

To Ron's and Harry's enormous surprise Peeves burst out loudly into what looked like huge pearly white tears. Once they had confirmed that he was really crying and not trying to trick them Harry suddenly felt very bad. He had never made anyone cry before and he really didn't want to start with a poltergeist. He looked at Ron who gave him a look that clearly said 'Lets get out of here while we can.' But Harry couldn't bring himself to do that.

"Err why are you crying Peeves? You are really crying aren't you?"

Peeves suddenly stopped crying loudly and choked back a few dry sobs. "Y-you didn't follow my directions." He softly accused Harry and Ron.

"Err they were the wrong directions weren't they?" Ron asked him politely, his attention dead set on Peeves. From whatever he had heard about Peeves from his brothers he knew that Peeves certainly did not behave this way.

"But you broke my centuries-old tradition. I have misdirected thousands of students since I have come to be at Hogwarts and you are the first students ever who saw through the trick and now people are going to think that Peeves is not good enough to be at Hogwarts anymore. He cannot even trick ickle firsties!" Peeves finished in a soft voice and again started sobbing silently.

Harry and Ron looked at each other incredulously. They were the first students ever in centuries who seemed to have out-smarted Peeves and because of that Peeves was having self-doubts. Ron looked like he didn't know what to say and was still wondering whether this was all another huge ruse to do them in. Harry decided that Peeves was indeed being honest wondering whether poltergeists were even supposed to feel, let alone feel sorrow and doubt their own capability.

"We are sorry Peeves. Look, it is not that we wanted to break your tradition or something, it just happened okay and it was not your fault that we saw through your trick. I had heard the ghosts discussing that you are always trying to trick people and that is why we didn't follow your directions." Harry said in what he hoped would be a conciliatory tone.

Peeves looked a bit better but he still didn't look convinced. Ron decided to continue where Harry left off. "Yeah you are not loosing your touch or something it's just that we were sort of forewarned. C'mon mate cheer up."

Peeves certainly seemed to have perked up a lot. Harry decided to go for the knock out. "Look it's not really your mistake if the ghosts have a big mouth. Tell you what, if you don't want anyone else to know that we saw--- accidentally saw through your ruse we won't tell anyone. It will be our very own little secret. No one would even think that there was anything different this year they would think that you did it this year too. So what do you say? Are we okay now? Lets be friends shall we?" Ron gave a groan at that but Harry ignored him and hoped that Peeves ignored him too.

Peeves looked like he was going through a huge emotional turmoil as if he was going to do something big. Then he gave both Ron and Harry a huge smile and laughed. A true, happy laugh not the cackle that they had so far. "Yes, Scarhead and Rusty, Peeves and you are friends now. You are Peeves' first friends you know. You will not regret me."

"Er what did you call me?" Ron asked gingerly "And Harry" he added after an afterthought.

"Those are your labels. You label Peeves as Peeves don't you? So Peeves will call you ickle Weasley as Rusty because you have red-hair and wee Potter as Scarhead."

Ron looked horrified at that but Harry looked positively tickled. He wondered whether he should be offended by 'Scarhead' but surprisingly he was not offended at all. "No problems Peeves you can call us Scarhead and Rusty. In fact I like it. What about you Ron?" Harry said nudging Ron in the ribs.

"Yeah I like it too just." Ron whispered out loud, clearly not meaning it. But Peeves didn't seem to mind it or care about it. He seemed to be on Cloud Nine.

"Scarhead and Rusty are very generous. No-one is ever treating Peeves like this before. You will never regret this. Oh there is so much in the castle that Peeves can show you. Peeves can show you the secret class-rooms, the secret passages. Peeves can show you the kitchens and the house-elves. Peeves will show you my quarters. Peeves can help you pull pranks, Peeves is hearing that Scarhead is pranking the red-twins. Peeves can help you keep away from Filch and his mangy cat. Peeves can……"

Ron suddenly didn't mind the fact that he was going to be called Rusty and looked giddy at all the prospects. So did Harry but he realised that so much time had passed that not only was breakfast over but he was sure that their first ever lecture at Hogwarts had started and they were missing it. "Er Peeves can you help us to get to the Great Hall, the right direction please? I guess breakfast might be over but we still need to get to our first class."

"Peeves will never mis-lead you again, spook's-honour. I can do even better I know that Minnie always her Gryffindor ickle-firsties first thing on Monday. Follow Peeves."

Harry and Ron took on look at each other and decided that they were going to trust whatever Peeves' spook's-honour was and dashed off after him. Harry guessed that Minnie could only be Professor Minerva McGonagall. After going through half a dozen passages which were clearly secret and huge amounts of dust and through paintings which required passwords which Peeves happily told them they finally reached a corridor which looked like housed class-rooms.

"This is Minnie's classrooms, Peeves will leave you now. But I will see you again and help you." Peeves said in a surprisingly soft voice and dashed off through a wall. Harry and Ron took a moment to catch their breath and then knocked on the classroom that Peeves had pointed out and entered.

They entered the class to find the entire class' attention riveted on them. It was then that Harry realised that their attire was less then presentable. Their uniform was drenched and didn't look like a uniform at all. In fact Harry's uniform was torn at some places. His already unmanageable hair was standing up on their ends like they do after a cartoon character receives an electric shock. There were few bruises on their faces and hands. Ron even had a black eye.

At the welcoming feast Harry had thought that Professor McGonagall was a person, never to cross and that feeling was simply reinforced after taking one look at her. Her mouth had thinned into one thin line and her eyebrows seemed to want to merge with her hair. "Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter would you be kind enough to explain to me why on your first ever day at Hogwarts the two of you missed breakfast and consequently did not receive your schedules, then followed it up by coming half an hour late into my class, which by the way also happened to be your first ever class at Hogwarts. As if that was not an adequate amount of rule-breaking the two of you end up in my class looking like street urchins who had just been fighting complete with a dip in the lake? Do I even dare ask you exactly what were you two up to?"

Harry's mind was working at a million miles an hour. Professor McGonagall looked furious externally. But Harry had a feeling that it was just that. She was furious externally. He hoped he was right but he had a feeling that she was more concerned as to how exactly did two first years not to mention two of her responsibilities as she was the head of their house end-up like this. He looked at Ron and he was sure that Ron was not going to be exactly articulate right now. He wondered what exactly could he tell her. The easiest thing was to blame Peeves completely and get over it but he felt a bit guilty over doing that after all Peeves had called them his friends.

"We got lost while coming to breakfast and ran into Peeves. He misdirected us and we got lost. We tried going back and ran into Peeves again who was laughing at our predicament so I got angry and hurled a mop that I found on the floor at him. He retaliated and we counter-retaliated and it escalated on till he found some water balloons which he dropped off on us and ran off---er glided off. Then we somehow found our way to the Great Hall and Hagrid told us to come and see you here." Harry finished hoping against hope that she would believe him. It was not like he was lying or something he was just telling some half-lies and some half-truths.

McGonagall looked like she was weighing Harry's answer. She looked at Ron who had the presence of mind to nod fervently and then looked back at Harry. "All right Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, Peeves has been known to misguide first years for centuries now. Though I do sympathise with you for being misguided by Peeves that does not mean you should have gotten into a war of hurling only Merlin knows what with each other. Ten points each will be taken from Gryffindor for that and the two of you will serve a detention with me tonight at 8:00pm. Kindly do not get lost for that. Now the lesson is about to get over so please go to the Hospital Wing and get yourselves cleaned up. The Hospital Wing is on the first floor simply go down the stairs at the end of the corridor and turn left. Don't get lost on your way there. Here are your schedules."

Harry thought that she was being a bit strict but he nodded and then both Ron and he started making their way down to the Hospital Wing in silence. It was Ron who broke the silence first.

"Boy that must be some record. Ten points and a detention each on Day One and the first lesson isn't over as yet. If my mum gets wind of the news she is going to kill me. Percy might be a real pain in the neck too actually. By the way why did you bring Peeves into it? I thought that we were going to keep it a secret."

"Well I thought that McGonagall wouldn't find it hard to believe that Peeves did it and it does uphold his reputation doesn't it? As long as we don't tell anyone about our pact with Peeves we can blame the rest on him, I think he might actually like it." Harry said after a moment.

"Yeah I guess he will like it. That was something wasn't it? A poltergeist crying!"

"Not to mention the fact that he called us his friends and labelled us Scarhead and Rusty."

"If we ever tell the rest of my brothers about this, I have a feeling that they will never believe it. Well Fred and George might and when they do I have a feeling that they might just start worshipping you."

Harry and Ron looked at each other and burst into laughter. They made to the Hospital Wing without any troubles and entered the imposing double-doors. Madame Pomfrey was not amused at having two first years needing her care within the first 24-hours of their Hogwarts career. She gave them a cream to apply on the bruises and a potion to keep the cold from the wet uniforms out. She kept on shooting Harry strange looks.

"Mr. Potter the Quidditch season hasn't started yet. Can you please tell me, how exactly you ended up like this?"

"Er mam I haven't played Quidditch. I haven't even been on a broom yet so I guess playing Quidditch is a bit out of the picture."

"Mr. Potter if you are anything like your father was you will probably get into the team first thing next year and give me headaches for the next six-years." She said that with an air of finality as if Harry playing for Gryffindor was a given. "Mr. Weasley I don't want another Weasley coming here regularly, the twins give me enough work as it is. Now apply the cream every night until the bruises go down. I don't want any of you here for the rest of the term and Mr. Potter you look like your father's twin except you have your mother's eyes and her brains too from what Hagrid has told us."

Wondering what exactly had Hagrid told them and who "us" was Harry left the Hospital Wing. Harry looked at the schedule that Professor McGonagall had given them and saw that it was Charms next with Professor Flitwick. They were a lot more students in the corridors and Harry was getting a lot of stares and many students were even pointing at him muttering about him being the 'Harry Potter' and what not. He was getting rather uncomfortable with all the attention especially considering that he was wearing his brand-new robes which were torn in a couple of places and still looked wet even after a warming spell from Pomfrey. Ron noticed that Harry was getting uncomfortable and tried assuring him.

"Don't worry about the stares you know. They are bound to get tired of doing that. You are after all one of the heroes of the wizarding world whether you believe in it or no. So just try ignoring it and it will eventually stop."

Harry decided to believe Ron because the alternate was making him nervous and they entered the Charms classroom which was still empty. Hermione was the first one to enter the classroom and she started ranting at both Harry and Ron.

"How irresponsible can you two get? You lost Gryffindor 20 points and landed a detention. I received only 5 points in Professor McGonagall's lesson for transfiguring the needle and now those are for nothing. Gryffindor will never win the House Cup like this. You two need to tighten-up………"

She continued to rant on for another minute or two. Harry had tuned out after the first two sentences. Ron on the other hand was looking at Hermione with a wide mouth and something that looked, almost like fear in his eyes. He spoke up after Hermione finally stopped to catch her breath.

"You remind me of my mother." Ron commented rather gravely. By this time the class had almost filled up and all the Gryffindors burst into raucous laughter and Hermione went pink. Since she couldn't come up with any retort she settled on giving Ron a deadly glare and took a seat right at the front of the class.

Harry quite enjoyed Charms and the rest of the day inspite of the stares that hadn't diminished one bit. True to his word Peeves turned up in their dormitory after dinner thanking Harry for blaming him and offering to go on his excursions in the castle. But Ron and Harry declined as they had Professor McGonagall's detention. Peeves looked disappointed but he promised that he would be there early the next day to show them around. The only thing that he didn't enjoy was when Percy the prefect gave both Ron and him a dressing down.

"Ronald;" he began in a highly pompous voice, "and Mr. Potter. I am quite disappointed in the two of you. I have just received news that even before the two of you attended a single lesson at Hogwarts you two managed to receive detention. As if that was not enough you lost Gryffindor 20-points. Do you two realise that thanks to your antics Gryffindor have zero points at the end of first day of Hogwarts. Miss Granger kindly pointed out to me that this has been the first time ever that anybody has received detention on the first working day of school. Would you two kindly explain your actions?" By the time he ended his speech the entire common-room was listening to what the famous Harry Potter had to say.

Harry stared at Percy. This was probably his first public dressing down and he knew that no explanation would suffice Percy and the rest of the Gryffindors wouldn't be pleased either.

"Er, Percy are you saying that no one ever in the history of Hogwarts has ever managed to receive a detention on the first working day of the term?"

Percy looked at Hermione for confirmation who nodded. "That would be correct Mr. Potter."

Harry stood up. Out of the corner of the eye he saw the twins who were very keenly awaiting his response. He turned to Ron and began in a very clear and solemn voice and made sure that his voice carried all over the common-room.

"Ron, let me the first one to congratulate you on making history at Hogwarts. You and I have done the impossible, something which has never being accomplished in thousands of years of Hogwarts history. You and I will now have a place in the annals of Hogwarts. We have created HISTORY." He turned to face most of the common-room and began in an even louder voice. "Ladies and Gentlemen we have a date with history at 8:00pm in Professor McGonagall's office and we would like cordially invite all of you to witness it."

Harry finished his announcement and pushed Ron out of his chair towards the portrait-hole. It took the entire common-room a few moments to digest what Harry had exactly said and then the entire common-room burst out into wild, uncontrollable laughter. Percy and Hermione were looking nauseous yet gob-smacked at the same time. The twins were rolling on the floor and it looked like they would die of laughter.

A few minutes later with plenty of time still left before 8:00pm Ron and Harry reached McGonagall's office, knocked and entered the office after she gave them permission to enter. Professor McGonagall looked at the two of them in surprise.

"You two are almost 10 minutes early. Never mind, here are two first year Transfiguration books we are going to go over the lesson that you missed in the morning. This not the kind of detention that you would generally receive but all things considered I decided to be a bit lenient. Now transfiguration is very difficult field of magic and……."

McGonagall finished her lecture and gave Ron and Harry a box of match-sticks, told them the incantation and the wand-moments and then asked them to convert one match-stick into a needle. Just as she was about to settle back there was another knock on the door and in stepped Fred and George with what looked like the rest of the Gryffindor-house and surprisingly Percy who it seemed had tried to prevent everyone from coming down there.

Professor McGonagall's lips thinned into a very thin line and again her eyebrows seemed to disappear into her hairline. She actually looked flustered at the large number of students outside her office-door and Harry had a feeling that it had been many years since McGonagall was last flustered and confused.

"Messers Weasley, may I know what are you doing outside my office with what looks like almost the entire Gryffindor house?"

"Professor, a very Good Evening to you;" the twins began in their very own twin speak. "Percy kindly pointed out to Harry and Ron that no-one ever in the history of Hogwarts had managed to be bestowed with a detention either on their first day or the first working day of the term. Harry and Ron managed that and as Harry and we saw, it was history in the making. Harry was also kind enough to invite us to watch history being created. So all of us decided to come here and see history in making. After-all it is not everyday that we see history being created do we?" The twins finished their declaration with a flourish and a deceiving sweet smile on their faces.

Professor McGonagall looked at the twins with an incredulous look and then swivelled around to look at Harry. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley let me congratulate you on being a part of history. Now kindly concentrate on turning the matchstick into a needle please." Then she began in a louder voice. "The rest of you please go back to the common-room. NOW." She then literally slammed the door on the twins' face, came in and sat down at her desk with her face having a ghost of a smile on it.

Harry spent the rest of the time in detention concentrating completely on finishing the task at hand and he was pleasantly surprised when he did indeed transfigure the match-stick into the needle within almost no time. Ron however was having more problems than Harry and his needle had only gone all shiny and pointy. Harry decided to help him out.

"Ron you need to put your intent into the spell. You need to want to transfigure that match-stick into a needle. Believe that you can indeed accomplish that and then try again."

Ron tried following Harry's instructions but half-way through the process his concentration wavered. Harry very patiently explained again to Ron and this time Ron managed it successfully as well. Harry and Ron spent the next quarter of an hour having a race trying to see who could convert the most number of match-sticks into needles. Their race was interrupted by Professor McGonagall incredulous voice.

"My! What exactly is going on here?"

It was Ron who answered. "Er, we finished transfiguring a match-stick into a needle and then we-er had a spontaneous race trying to see who could convert the most match-sticks into needles."

To Ron and Harry's greatest surprise Professor McGonagall smiled. "Ten points each to Gryffindor. This is excellent work. Now if you can manage to transfigure the needles back into match-sticks, I might just award you another ten points each."

Within moments both Harry and Ron had opened their textbooks and were looking up the section on re-transfiguring. Ron was the first one to try it, but his match-stick was still pointy. Harry tried and ended up with a blunt needle. They discussed about exactly how differently had they done their spells and tried again. This time Ron ended up with a shiny blunt match-stick and Harry managed to get a sharp match-stick. Deciding that they were trying a bit too hard they read the theory again and took a deep calming breath and tried again. And this time both Ron and Harry managed to transfigure the needle into the original match-stick though the match-stick wasn't as smooth as it was before.

Professor McGonagall was quite pleased with their effort. "Well your efforts did not yield the perfect results. Yet, I must say that the two of you tried really hard and the results are not bad at all. As a matter of fact you were not even expected to be successful in perfectly transfiguring the match-stick into the needle on your first attempt. Well done and I expect you two to keep-up your effort. Ten points each to Gryffindor and now please return to your dormitories and do not show any tardiness in the future, Peeves or no Peeves. Good night and Mr. Potter your father would have been very proud today;" she paused a little and Harry thought that she was almost weighing her words before speaking them out loudly. "He was excellent at transfiguration too."

Harry had a sneaking suspicion that there was more than his father's skills at transfiguration but he couldn't think of anything else. As soon as they got into the common-room, the twins started mock-applauding and quite a few people joined them.

"Ah the history-makers arrive." The twins began talking together. "We never got the chance to congratulate you personally did we? Little Ronnikens is growing up. Who would have thought that little Ron would get into a book on his first day of school." Fred wiped fake-tears from his eyes. "And how can we forget the little Harrikins. The puny little Boy-Who-Lived, the vanquisher of You-know-who, the only one to ever successfully fool us. He managed to get a detention on his first day ever; size never is an indication of greatness ladies and gents and we have proof right here. Continue-on little Harrikins and you just might replace Bill as our favourite person."

Harry and Ron were beyond laughing at this point and simply wished a night-cap to the twins and their audience and went up to their dormitory to sleep. Ron especially seemed to be in a very good mood. Not even Percy who way-laid him half-way up the stairs, could dampen his spirits.

"This is not the end of it Ronald. I am going to owl mother, first thing in the morning. She will take you to task all-right."

"Well Pearce be sure to include the fact that we gained back 40-points during the detention too. Mum might like to hear that I managed to transfigure and re-transfigure the match-stick and the needle during my first lesson with Harry's help of course but I did the spell on my own. So Good Night and enjoy writing the letter."

The rest of the week until Friday was quite uneventful for Harry, the only difference being that thanks to Peeves they did not run afoul of authority even once. Both Ron and Harry spent hours and hours exploring the castle under the expert guidance of Peeves. Ron was a bit skeptical of roaming around at night after the curfew but Harry managed to convince him. They started with the routes that they would traverse the most. The route from their common-room to the Great Hall, from the Great Hall to all the classrooms. Before long they could reach the Great Hall quicker than any other student. Ron was waiting for Peeves to show them the kitchens for the extra food supply that would come along with it while Harry was more interested in meeting the house-elves. Peeves true to his word had not misled them a single time and they were thankful for that. Ron and Harry knew that if Peeves wanted he could get them into loads of trouble so they tried to be as polite as possible to him. Peeves was overjoyed at that and kept on repeating about how Scarhead and Rusty were his only friends.

Harry found the lessons interesting and he and Ron made it a point to finish their homework before they went romping the castle with Peeves. The only lessons Harry wasn't really fond of, were Herbology and Astronomy but he managed to sit through them. Though Harry was thoroughly disappointed with Defence against the Dark Arts. The lessons were pathetic and Professor Quirrel stuttered his way through the lessons and the students ended up learning very little.

Harry was particularly looking forward to Friday for a variety of reasons. Peeves had promised to take him and Ron to the kitchens, Hagrid had owled him in the morning and asked him to come over and visit and to top it off Friday was going to be the first Potions class and Harry was absolutely thrilled about being finally able to put the theory that he had learned into practice. The only damper was that Potions was going to be with the Slytherins and they certainly didn't like Harry or really Gryffindors in general.

As was becoming the practice Ron and Harry left breakfast at the last possible minute and yet reached the Potions classroom in the dungeons almost before anyone else 'almost' because Hermione was in the habit of sitting in the classroom almost 15-minutes early before the official schedule.

Ron and Harry took seats right at the back of the class-room and waited for Professor Snape to arrive. As Harry looked around he realized that the class was clearly divided along house-lines. The Gryffindors sat at one side and the Slytherins at the other. The Gryffindors had classes before with the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs but they did not take great pains to avoid each other. Harry decided that he really needed to think over this division. But as he gave a look in Malfoy's direction that thought went straight out of his mind.

Malfoy was shooting smirk after smirk in his direction, almost as if he knew that something was about to happen. Harry was surprised that he had not even got a reprimand after the train incident and wondered what was it exactly that Malfoy was planning but decided to ignore him for the moment as he really didn't want to spoil his first Potions class.

Professor Snape swept into the classroom a moment later and the entire class went dead quite as they listened to his lecture on the finer points of Potions. Harry's first impression of him was that of a bully as Professor seemed to want to scare them into studying properly rather than encouraging them to study properly. After the small introductory lecture Professor Snape started calling off the roll-call. It went on perfectly normally until he reached '**P**'; **P** for **Potter**.

"Ah, our new celebrity." Professor Snape sneered and as if on cue the Slytherins who had not made a sound till then started laughing.

To say that Harry was shocked would be an understatement. He had barely said a word; forget a word, a letter and Professor Snape was picking on him. But that was not the end of it, misreading the look of shock on Harry's face Professor Snape continued in the same vein.

"What? You expect special treatment everywhere you go Potter? Just because the rest of the staff seemed to be convinced that you are some miracle does not mean I will treat you the same way. You are just like you father, Potter. Just as arrogant and a bigheaded……?"

Something snapped in Harry. He had enough of the Dursleys insulting his parents and almost like a reflex action Harry spoke up.

"I wouldn't know. I barely remember his name, let alone his personality. Sir." Harry looked up at Professor Snape. NO. Only Snape. He looked surprised that Harry had actually replied. The rest of the class looked especially the ones with older siblings in Hogwarts looked sick and were trying to make all kind of indications to Harry to stand down and shut-up but Harry simply ignored them. Snape meanwhile recovered from the surprise and sneered at Harry again.

"Don't play the 'Pity-Card' with me Potter you dumb celebrity."

Harry took one look at Snape and realized that Snape hated him. No, Snape didn't really hate him, he seemed to have hated Harry's father and had simply transferred that hate onto Harry. From the bottom of his heart and no matter what Harry said was not going to change his opinion. Snape and his actions literally smelled like Uncle Vernon's and Dudley's behaviour to Harry. Snape didn't simply try and bully his students into studying he was a bully and Harry was dead tired of bullies. So Harry decided to go for broke.

"I am not trying to play the pity-card Sir. I am telling you the truth and if I can correct your one small mistake Sir, I am not a celebrity." After this proclamation the entire class was looking at Harry with open mouths. Even Snape seemed to have been shocked into silence. But Harry wasn't finished.

"I am not a celebrity Sir. Celebrities yearn for fame, success and wealth. Considering that everyone in the wizarding world knows my name I dare say that I have enough fame. And if my juvenile vault is any indication I have to say that I am filthy rich. So I am not a celebrity Sir only famous. Bloody rich and bloody famous"

The silence that followed this declaration was absolute. Finally after ten seconds Ron started chuckling. Dean and Seamus joined in a moment later. Parvati and Lavender giggled for a couple of seconds but stopped within a few seconds. Neville looked like he had not understood the whole thing and looked on nervously. Hermione's face was livid at both Harry for back-answering to a Professor and at Professor Snape for behaving in a manner completely unbecoming of a Professor. The Slytherins simply looked flabbergasted. They were hoping to laugh at Harry Potter instead now they felt like laughing at their Head of House. Nobody except Goyle and Crabbe were stupid enough to do that.

Snape spoke up in a quiet threatening voice. "Fifty points from Gryffindor for your cheek Mr. Potter and you will serve two weeks worth of detention with me."

The Gryffindors stopped laughing at once and the smiles on the Slytherins' faces started getting wider and wider. The calm look on Harry did not change one bit. He had expected some kind of punishment when he had back-answered. He had taken a decision and he was quite ready to face up to it's consequences. What he had not expected was the magnitude of the punishment. The two weeks of detention didn't really matter so much to him the fifty points did. He had a feeling that the Gryffindors were going to slay him. Snape wasn't finished either.

"So famous, Mr. Potter you wouldn't mind answering some questions on the portion would you? Lets see; what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry grinned inwardly. This was dead-familiar territory. Without any hesitation out came the answer. "Draught of Living Death; Sir." Snape looked immensely surprised but he pushed on.

"'Where would I find a bezoar?' Snape snapped.

'Inside the stomach of a goat.' Harry replied feigning a bored disposition. Suddenly Harry felt a streak of pain in his scar and his head started throbbing instantaneously and instinctively he brought his hand up to his head. Almost as quickly as the pain had come it receded.

'What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?'

'Nothing sir, they are the same plant. Muggle botanists call it aconite'

Snape went through the entire first year book. Literally page by page. After every question Hermione raised her hand expectantly hoping that she would get an opportunity to answer an question but Snape continued showering only Harry with questions.

Harry thought that Snape would stop after the first year but he plowed on; 'What is the main ingredient of the restorative draught for petrified people?'

Harry was surprised that he actually remembered the answer as he must have literally only glanced over it. "Mandrake plant, Sir."

Snape went aggressively through the second year book as well and Harry had a feeling that Snape wasn't going to stop until he made a mistake. At the same time Snape really seemed to have lost control over the questioning as Harry was sure that he was only giving half-correct answers many times but Snape didn't seem to realize it.

There were barely 30-minutes to go for the lesson to end and Snape was going through the fourth year portion now. The Gryffindors were angry now, they had heard that Snape was unfair but this was beyond being simply unfair he was being evil. The Slytherins were starting to think that their Head of House had finally lost it.

'Lacewing flies and knotgrass Potter. What potion uses both ingredients?'

'That would be the Polyjuice Potion, sir.' Harry remembered reading about this particular potion when he was very interested in reading about magical means of disguises.

"What is the most important ingredient of the Polyjuice potion, Potter?" Snape asked triumphantly.

Harry did not answer immediately. It was a loaded question. He finally decided to trust his instincts. "The body-part of the person, whom the potion is to be used to impersonate is the most important ingredient, Sir."

Snape looked tired now. He was running patience and ten minutes before the bell he finally cracked. 'Please explain your unbelievable knowledge of potions and their ingredients, Potter? How are you managing to cheat? Decided to show off in front of your peers? Grab a little more limelight to inflate your huge ego even further?'

Harry smiled inwardly. That was 2-0 in his favour. Of course, Snape might have asked him something from the sixth or the seventh years and he would have faltered but Snape would never know that. He looked up and saw that Snape and indeed the entire class except Ron who knew of his Potions' liking was waiting for an answer.

"Well Sir, I had read the books in the summer after Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley. Of course it helps that Potions is very very very easy. I mean it is barely even 'real' magic. It's just like cooking. You take add different ingredients at different times and you have a potion. I am sure even a magically-untrained cook would be able to brew Potions in a jiffy with the correct instructions." Harry knew he had crossed one line too many with that answer but after answering for almost an hour thinking rationally was his least priority.

The entire class who had more and more surprised with every answer that Harry gave was looking at him reverently, well at least the Gryffindors were. Almost everyone knew that no-one ever stood-up to and stunned Professor Snape into silence and Harry had done just that, twice in the space one double period. Hermione looked sick. She couldn't believe that someone who had so much knowledge could behave in such an unrespectful manner with a professor.

No one said anything for the remaining 5 minutes of the period. Snape spent the time staring at Harry and Harry staring at his shoes. Snape was broken out of his trance by the ringing of the bell. He gathered himself and spoke up so coldly and harshly that it probably froze his saliva.

"Potter that will be another 50 points from Gryffindor and a further two weeks of detention with me. Now get out, all of you."

Harry didn't need another invitation. He was up and out before Snape had even completed the sentence and set a course for Hagrid's hut which was just on the edge of the forbidden forest. Ron was right behind him.

"Don't worry mate. Snape is known to be unfair. I think he was at his evil best today. A month of detentions; honestly you would think that you had tried to murder someone. Talk with McGonagall and try to get it reduced" Ron tried to console Harry.

"No, Snape probably expects that. Hell he probably wants me to do exactly that; it will vindicate his stand on my 'celebrity' status. It's not the detentions that I am worried about really. 100-points are a lot of points you know. Percy and Hermione are not going to be happy about that." Harry replied guiltily.

They had reached outside the castle now and finally Harry slowed down. Ron looked thoughtful for a moment before replying. "You know Snape is known for picking on Gryffindors. Not even the twins have tried to stand-up to him. I have a feeling that even if the rest of the Gryffindors are not pleased with you the twins are really going to start worshipping you now."

Harry did manage to smile at that. Ron and he spent an hour lounging around the lake and made their way to Hagrid's hut around 3'o clock. They spent an enjoyable afternoon with Hagrid and Fang his boarhound. With Ron cursing Snape and insisting that Snape hated Harry and Hagrid maintaining that Snape had no reason to hate Harry. Harry had a feeling that Hagrid was hiding something about Snape as he didn't sound really confident when he tried to convince them of Snape's neutrality.

"Why did Snape hate my father?" Harry finally interrupted the by then meaningless debate between Hagrid and Ron.

The bucket-sized tea-cup got smashed in Hagrid's hands, spraying them all with tea. Hagrid and Ron looked shocked at that question. Hagrid had gone all pale and he now completely avoiding Harry's eyes. "What makes you think that Harry? Why would Professor Snape hate your father?"

"C'mon Hagrid I have barely spoken a word with Snape and he is comparing me with father. He calls me a arrogant and thickheaded celebrity, just like my father." Harry paused for a moment. "You are right Snape "didn't" hate my father he still hates him."

"You are wrong. Professor Snape is a Hogwarts' professor and he does not hate you." Harry was sure that Hagrid was lying now as he refused to meet his eyes and changed the topic rather unsubtly. "So Ron how is you brother Charlie doing?Still with the dragons?"

Harry picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cozy. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet:

**GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST**

_Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown. Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day. "But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon_.

Harry remembered Ron telling him on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't mentioned the date.

"Hagrid!" said Harry, "that Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday!

It might've been happening while we were there!"

There was no doubt about it, Hagrid definitely didn't meet Harry's eyes this time. He grunted and offered him another rock cake. Harry read the story again. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier that same day. Hagrid had emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, if you could call it emptying, taking out that grubby little package. Had that been what the thieves were looking for?

Harry decided to let that drop. He had enough things to worry about as it was. Beginning from his parents' will with his jailed godfather to his werewolf guardian. Ever since he had found out about his mysterious werewolf guardian Remus Lupin he had read a couple of books on werewolves and they were not encouraging. The books had portrayed werewolves as blood-thirsty monsters and there was no cure for it. To say that he was disappointed would be an understatement. He really wanted to talk to someone close to his parents. Right now the only hope seemed to his godfather and he was in some mysterious magical prison for mass-murder, which underage wizards were not allowed to visit. He often wondered why his parents had appointed such people as his guardians and the only reason he could come-up with was that both Lupin and Black must not have been a werewolf and a mass-murderer respectively, when his parents drew up the will.

Then there was the whole Ginny issue. No matter how hard he tried; he simply could not forget her even for a moment. She was always there at the back of his mind somewhere. Every time he thought about her he felt happy and contented and yet fearful. He was certain by now that he loved her, even though he didn't know what love really meant, he simply knew that he loved her. He wanted to talk about it with someone but the only close friend that he had, happened to be her elder brother and Harry was sure that Ron would not take very kindly to that discussion. He would simply have to wait until she got to Hogwarts the next year.

It had been one hell of a week and it wasn't yet over.

A/N: I am sure that I remember the questions asked by Snape to Harry from some fanfic but I can't remember it. Credit to that author and I hope that he/she does not mind me using those questions. Sorry for the late update but the next chapters will be up within a few hours probably.


	6. Legilimency and the unplanned prank

After their afternoon with Hagrid, Harry really wasn't in the mood to face the rest of the school and Gryffindors at dinner. One of the first things he had learnt at Hogwarts was that it had one of the most extensive and easily the most rapid gossip networks in the world. Students knew about Ron's and his "record" even before they had returned from their detention with Professor McGonagall. So he was quite certain that the news of loss of 100-points and an entire month of detentions from Snape awarded to the famous Harry Potter of all the persons would have spread around the school even before he was out of the castle doors in the afternoon. Needless to say he was quite apprehensive about entering the Great Hall with the majority of the school in attendance.

"You know we could completely avoid the Great Hall and find Peeves. He promised to show us the kitchens today so we don't really have to go hungry tonight." Ron offered sensing Harry's apprehension.

"Yeah I guess that would be the best thing to do. I don't think Snape and Professor McGonagall would be too happy to see me right now."

They went up the marble staircase directly from the Entrance hall and headed for the Charms corridor. A disused classroom at the end of the Charms corridor was Peeves favourite hangout. Peeves was overjoyed to see them.

"Peeves is hearing that Scarhead gave headache to Sevvy. Peeves not like Sevvy, Sevvy never laughs. Minnie is not happy with Scarhead and is looking for you. Scarhead did good by not going to dinner in the Great Hall. Now Peeves is taking you to visit the kitchens. Follow Peeves, Rusty and Scarhead."

Peeves set course for the Great Hall but he went in the direction in which all the Hufflepuffs went presumably towards their common-room. Ron and Harry followed him silently hoping that the kitchen wasn't very far off as they were quite hungry now. Hagrid was great to talk with but he certainly wasn't a great cook. Soon they entered a corridor lined with pictures of food on both the walls. Peeves stopped before a picture of giant fruit bowl with various fruits in it.

"Just tickle the pear and it giggles and then the door to the kitchens open. Peeves will leave you now as the house-elves don't like Peeves very much. See you around Scarhead and Rusty."

Ron and Harry exchanged a look and Harry stepped forward to tickle the pear. The pear giggled and the painting swung open. They stepped in and both of them gasped in surprise. The kitchens were almost a replica of the Great Hall and that was saying something as the Great Hall was really big. There were four tables in the kitchens with positions identical to the four house tables in the Great Hall. Brass vessels were scattered around the kitchen and somethings were running around them doing something. It was then that Harry realized that they were probably house-elves.

The house-elves were very short; they seemed to be barely two feet tall. They were dressed in a white tea-cosy with the Hogwarts' crest on it. They had large, bat-like ears and bulging eyes the size of tennis balls. Yet they seemed to be carrying things four or five times their own weight. It was then that they noticed Ron and Harry. On noticing almost as one they bowed to them and the majority of them went back to work but two elves approached the two boys and bowed again.

"How can we help young masters? Would they like to eat something?"

Harry was quite surprised. From Peeves continuous claims about the house elves not liking him, Harry had thought that getting food from them was not going to be easy. But here they were being absolutely polite and ready to help him and Ron almost as if it was their duty.

"Err hi. My name is;" for some reason he didn't want to say Harry Potter. "Well my name is Scarhead and my friend's name is Rusty." He ignored Ron's groan and went on. "Can we get some dinner please?"

No sooner had he finished requesting that some ten elves stormed into action. A table was set-up and to Ron's great delight a seven course meal was set in front off them. Harry and Ron literally threw themselves at the available food and were soon lost in it. When they finally reached deserts Harry realized that the house-elf who had addressed them first was still there.

"Thank you for the food. It was brilliant. What is your name?"

The elf looked surprised that Harry had asked her name but she answered. "I am Chucky, Master Scarhead and Master Rusty." She bowed again.

Ron it seemed didn't like her calling them master. "Don't call us 'Master' Chucky. Rusty and Scarhead are just fine."

Chucky seemed to be scandalized at that. "No masters, house-elves have to call whom they serve as masters and serve them. We are bound to follow their orders and…."

"Well then I order you to call me only Scarhead and him as only Rusty;" began Harry. "Tell you what if you insist on calling us Masters we will call you Master and Mistress as well. So, what do you say do we have a deal?"

"Scarhead leaves us no choice we will stop calling yous Master. Scarhead and Rusty is welcomes in the kitchens at any times. All the house-elves will serve yous." Chucky said bowed deep and went off to clean up the table.

"That was some meal wasn't it and Merlin I love those house-elves." Ron was sounding pleased to say the least.

"Yeah it's brilliant. Well if I am going to be crucified in the common-room at least I am going to be well-fed. Let's go I don't want to break curfew to top off the day."

"You forgot Professor McGonagall, Harry. Remember Peeves told us that she was searching for you."

"Thanks Ron and here I was thinking that you were my friend. Anybody else you remember who is after my blood?" Harry asked sarcastically. Ron only grinned at that and they began their long walk back to the Gryffindor tower.

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself when he reached the portrait hole. He knew that after loosing hundred points so early in the year any chances of winning the House-Cup were literally nil now and he was sure that the rest of the Gryffindors were going to slay him for that. He mentally prepared himself for the worst and opened the portrait hole and entered the common-room. The amount of noise that hit his ears when he entered the common-room was enormous. For a moment he wondered what the fuss was all about and then he realized that all the sound and the gleeful faces were directed towards him. Then the twins reached him and pulled him to the centre of the room.

Harry wondered if prisoners being led to the guillotine felt the same way as he was feeling at that moment. He subconsciously closed his eyes as if almost waiting for the axe to fall. Then to his surprise he heard the twins speaking out loud. He was too distracted to completely understand what they were saying but he could make out words like 'history' 'points' 'damned Slytherins' and he gradually started to feel better a lot better. Then to his enormous surprise the common-room burst into applause and laughter at the same time. Harry opened his eyes and looked enquiringly at the twins.

"What are you guys applauding for? You do realize that I have single-handedly put Gryffindor well out of the House-Cup race?"

The twins only smiled at this and started their twin-speak. "Well little Harrikins, do you know how many students have wanted to insult-back Snape and 'back' is the operational word here. House Cups come and go every-year Harry you don't throw Snape's shit back onto his face every-year. Anyways the race is rigged from the start frankly. McGonagall is very fair with us Gryffindors and Snape supports the Slytherins with everything he has got and anyways we haven't won the House Cup for almost 3 years now so it's not a big deal. Don't worry yourself over such trivial matters as the House Cup. Continue hounding Snape and soon you will become a hero in Hogwarts for that, trust us."

Harry couldn't help but smile at that he even mock bowed to the common room and headed towards his dormitory. Percy was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.

"Mr. Potter, better things are expected from you. You just lost a hundred points for Gryffindor and this is only your first week. Also I believe you have month-long detention with Professor Snape. You have……"

Harry had heard enough. "Cut it out Percy. Snape was being unfair. I probably wouldn't have said anything if he had sticked to insulting me. He insulted my father and I lost my temper. It is as simple as that. And I know exactly how many points I have lost you don't need to remind me. So can I go to bed now? I have had a really long day."

Percy seemed to be at a loss of words for a few moments. "Er, yes you can go to bed. Professor McGonagall was searching for you. I believe she wants to have a word with you over this fiasco. Since it is curfew already I expect you to meet her first thing in the morning."

Harry streaked past him into their dormitory and slipped into the bed without changing his clothes. He really did have a long day.

The next day Harry woke up pretty early in the morning but cursed his luck as he realized that it was a Saturday and he didn't need to get to any class. After taking a shower and getting dressed he made his way to the common-room. He knew that he was in for a hard morning. He was sure that Professor McGonagall hadn't called him simply for a cup of tea. The month long detentions were appearing to be really daunting now, luckily he wasn't behind on any essays but hew was sure that the real homework had barely started. His thoughts were interrupted by Hermione sitting in front of him.

"How did you know all those things? Why did you talk with Professor Snape like that? Where did you disappear last evening so that even Professor McGonagall or the prefects couldn't find you? Why were you not there at the dinner either? " Hermione asked Harry without even stopping to take a breath.

"As I told Snape, I really did read the Potions' books in the summer. For an entire month I barely read anything else but Potions and just skimmed over a few other general books. I was really fascinated by Potions and to be very interesting and I guess I just read ahead. I wasn't at dinner because I was with Hagrid. Do you have any more questions for me Hermione or now can I move on to breakfast?" Harry finished a bit irritably. Without waiting for an answer he stalked out of the portrait hole intending to go to breakfast. He had barely made it halfway to the Great Hall when he realized that it was a bad idea to be in the Great Hall with Snape, Professor McGonagall and the remaining students for every time he ran into a student he either received a congratulatory pat on the back or a sneer. So he found himself in the kitchen looking for Chucky and hoping that she would not mind giving him breakfast.

Chucky was quite overjoyed to see 'Scarhead' again so soon. The elf wasted no time in getting Harry a sumptuous breakfast and she didn't even ask any questions. Harry had a suspicion that the elves did not get too many visitors or it simply wasn't in their nature to refuse the students any food. He decided to ask Chucky about that.

"Err Chucky aren't there rules against students eating in the kitchens or something? I mean I really appreciate that you have now given me food twice without even asking a question but I mean I guess….."

Chucky it seemed was hoping that Harry or rather Scarhead would ask that very question. "You see Scarhead, very few students knowing that there are house-elves in the Hogwarts' kitchens and even fewer knowing where the kitchens are. We house-elves don't have to follow human rules, we are bound only by one rule and that is by our actions Hogwarts and her students must not be harmed. We is not harming the Hogwarts castle by giving hungry Scarhead some food."

Harry thought over it and remembered something about the house-elves. "Chucky if you don't mind me asking, I read that house-elves are owned by old families and that you are bound to obey all their rules. Whom are you bound to, I mean won't you be in trouble if they found out that you are giving me food?"

Harry was surprised when big fat tears appeared in Chucky's tennis ball sized eyes. He wondered what exactly had he done now to make her cry. "I am sorry Chucky if I have hurt you in someway…….."

Chucky didn't allow Harry to complete the sentence. She jumped into the air and literally attached herself to Harry's knees. She then suddenly let go off him as if she had done some grievous crime. "I is sorry Scarhead, it just being that no-one has ever cared for us so much. The Professors are polite to us but nobody has ever said sorry to us or cared about us." She seemed to choke back some tears and then answered Harry's original question. "And no person owns us Scarhead. We are bounded to Hogwarts. She is very magical. We protect her and she gives us lots of work. We cherish work."

Harry was quite dumbfounded after the entire scene had played out. It seemed that he had an affinity for the non-humans residents of Hogwarts. He decided that he needed to read a bit more about house-elves. "Well, Chucky thanks for the breakfast again. I really have to go now and meet Professor McGonagall. I will come and meet you sometime later okay; Bye."

Harry used a couple of secret passages to avoid the crowd in the corridor and within ten minutes he was in front of Professor McGonagall's office doors. He was quite nervous by then; he was wondering what exactly did she want to talk with him. He had a very good idea what the 'talk' was going to pertain to but he had no idea what direction the 'talk' was going to take. Bracing himself for anything he knocked on the door and he was asked to enter the room within moments. He entered the office and spotted Professor McGonagall seated behind her desk. She had a grave look on her face. Her face also had the same look of Déjà vu that he had seen at the Welcoming feast. He sat down in the chair that she pointed to and waited for his head of house to begin.

"Well Mr. Potter, I dare say you know exactly why I have called you here. Would you kindly tell me how exactly did you end up losing a hundred points and get a month-long detention in your first week at Hogwarts?"

Harry debated whether he should just scream out that Snape was being an arse. But he thought that Professor McGonagall wouldn't really appreciate that line of reasoning. Nor would she appreciate if he politely put the blame on Snape. Not knowing what exactly he was going to say, he started speaking.

"I was a bit rude the first time Mam when I tried to explain to Sna….er…Professor Snape that I was not a celebrity. But I don't know what was my mistake the second time for I was simply answering the questions that Professor Snape was asking me."

Professor McGonagall kept on looking expectantly at Harry as if she was expecting something more but Harry had decided that he had given enough explanation. If she wasnted to find out what really happened she could ask the rest of the students but he was not going to blame Snape or something like that.

"Is that all Mr. Potter? I don't think these actions really warrant a deduction of hundred points or a month long detention. The explanation that I got from Professor Snape was much more vivid and not to mention the fact that he insisted that you kept on insulting him for the entire length of the class. He assured me that his students would tell me the same things if I asked them about it. So would you kindly give me an elaborate explanation?"

"Well Mam I doubt anything that I say would make any difference now. It would be the word of a Professor against that of a first-year student. If Professor Snape was insulted by me clarifying my non-celebrity status and answering the questions he put forth, I would take care in the future to ensure that I do not offend his sensibilities."

Professor McGonagall gave Harry a long piercing look. It was quite clear that she wasn't pleased by Harry's answer. But Harry for some stupid reason didn't want to tell McGonagall that Snape was being unfair well really evil to him.

"Very well Mr. Potter, since you have accepted that you did indeed offend Professor Snape's sensibilities I hope you would not mind when I take away a further 25-points from Gryffindor for your actions?"

Harry steeled himself not to show any emotion on his face and simply nodded and left Professor McGonagall's office and headed towards the common room hoping to find Ron. The rest of the weekend went without incident. Ron had insisted on having every meal in the kitchens as Harry wasn't really interested in being in the limelight in the Great Hall also it meant that Ron could get almost custom-made menus from the elves.

The hoopla over the Snape incident had indeed died down but a lot of Gryffindors were now viewing Harry as some sort of real hero. The story had grown ridiculous with every passing hour and eventually it seemed that Harry had defeated Snape in a duel lasting for two hours. Whether people really believed it or not Snape seemed to get enraged every time he heard words like 'Harry' 'Gryffindor' 'detention' and even 'Potions Class'. Even the Slytherins were avoiding him. So Harry wasn't exactly thrilled when a Prefect informed him that he was supposed to serve detention with Snape in his office at 7:00 in the evening.

Harry left Ron in the common-room at 6:30pm and headed off to the Potions classroom. He didn't want Snape to complain that he was late for the detention. He arrived in the classroom with ten minutes to spare and entered it upon knocking at the door. Snape was seated at his desk and he sneered in Harry's direction after spotting him.

"Do you see those cauldrons there in the corner Potter? You are clean them the muggle-way. No magic. Now start."

Harry started cleaning the cauldrons wondering whether after getting away from the cleaning duties of the Dursleys he was going to end up being the clean-up boy for Snape of all the professors. At least he wasn't going to find the task assigned difficult. He really had years of practice at it. He decided that he might as well enjoy it. After half an hour he had managed to clean 4 cauldrons and was moving onto his 5th cauldron when Snape decided to see how he was doing.

"How many cauldrons have you finished cleaning Potter?"

"Four, Sir. This is the fifth one now."

To say that Snape was surprised would be an understatement. "Stop lying Potter no one can finish that many in such a small time using muggle-means."

"Well Sir I have. I can help you count if you like."

"Shut up, Potter. Five points from Gryffindor for your cheek. You have managed to clean four cauldrons all-right and within 40-minutes. It is simply impossible to do so using muggle means. How did you manage it Potter? Just a cheat like your father."

"Practice makes a man perfect Sir and I didn't cheat. Don't call my father a cheat he was ten times the man you are."

Snape was really angry, he wasn't really angry at Harry per se, he was simply angry that he couldn't intimidate him and that was really setting him off.

"You have cheated Potter and either you tell exactly how or I will find it out." Snape growled at Harry.

Harry wasn't too far from getting angry either. He tried to school his thoughts and rein his temper. He locked his eyes with Snape's eyes and started replying. "I haven't cheated here Sir nor have I cheated anywhere else for that matter so now…….."

But Harry never got to complete his reply. He heard Snape saying something like 'legile…' but he couldn't make out the entire words as a sharp pain suddenly spiked in his head. It felt as if someone was trying to knock on his skull with a cricket bat. The unknown force battered his skull and instinctively he was trying to hit back at the force. But Harry knew that he was fighting a losing battle. With every hammering he felt his own counter measures decrease in strength and suddenly the force whatever it was broke into his mind and he felt as if his head would explode. Then memories started flashing by in front of his eyes. The memory when he was being chased by a Ripper, the one when he accidentally ended-up on the top of the school-roof his first visit to Diagon Alley and then Ginny. That was it the moment the face of Ginny swam in front of him he knew he couldn't let that force see this and he tried to fight back. It was then that he felt the energy surge that he had felt when he had punched Piers and Gordon.

Suddenly the face of Ginny disappeared from front of his eyes and for a moment he thought that he had gone blind as the only thing he saw was black void. Then some more memories started filtering out in front of his eyes. He couldn't make out the details but they were not his memories. They had Snape prominent in all of those and suddenly it hit him. The force was Snape and he had managed to repel Snape thanks to that energy surge. All of a sudden the memories disappeared and Harry was thrown off-balance a bit and fell down. Snape was panting and holding onto a cauldron for support. It looked like he had just run a couple of miles at full burst.

SNAPE! Suddenly Harry got the gist of the situation. Snape had somehow tried to read his mind and before he could achieve that completely, Harry had one way or the other managed to throw him out of his mind and accidentally read Snape's mind.

Harry panicked completely. Why the hell was Snape trying to read his mind? Snape hated him all-right but why would he do something like that? Harry couldn't think of anything, he saw Snape coming towards him and he threw the cauldron in his hand at Snape's head and he simply bolted from the Potions class-room. He heard Snape calling out after him to stop but he didn't and ran off wildly.

Finally when he stopped running he realized that he had reached the owlery. He entered and immediately Hedwig swooped down and came to a rest on his shoulders. She gave a small hoot almost as if to calm him down a bit and surprisingly it worked a bit.

He was very confused. Well he was sure of a couple of things. He was sure that Snape had tried to read his mind or thoughts or memories or whatever. He was sure that he had managed to repel away Snape. How, he had no idea. Why and How Snape managed it, he had no idea. He needed some answers. But he had no idea whom to ask for those answers. He could ask Hagrid but he didn't think that he would really know about it. Perhaps Headmaster Dumbledore, but he had never even spoken to him. Professor McGonagall was another option but she wasn't really happy with him right now. For the nth time since coming to Hogwarts he wished that he had someone he could ask anything without any strings attached.

Cursing his luck he decided to head back to the common-room. The only person he could think of that he could turn to an answer was Ron and perhaps the twins. Maybe they would know something about a mind reading spell. He entered the common room and found Ron playing chess alone.

"I need to talk with you Ron." Harry said in what must have been a troubled tone as Ron looked up instantly and put away the chess set, a rarity.

"What happened to you mate, you are looking disturbed and as pale as a ghost?"

"Something happened in the detention. I really need to talk with you and the twins."

Noting the serious tone of Harry's voice Ron didn't ask another question as he went off to find the twins. The three Weasley twins returned within a few minutes.

"Ah little Harrikins Ron says you…….;" the twins began in a jovial voice but took one look at Harry's face and finished in a much serious voice, "wanted to talk to us."

Harry was weighing what exactly he was going to tell them. They were the only friends he had. Would they think that he was a raving lunatic after he finished his story? Should he tell them the entire story or should he give them an edited version? No the truth was always preferable. After all he wouldn't like it himself if he was asked to help someone and lied to, to gain it.

"All right guys I don't know whether you will believe me or not, but I think Snape just tried to curse me, I mean he tried using some spell on me to read my mind." Harry looked at the Weasley brothers and saw an incredulous look on Ron's face and a calculating look on the twins' faces. They looked at each other and nodded, it was almost as if some silent communication had passed between them. Fred spoke up and the sentence wasn't completed by his twin.

"Tell us more about it."

"Well Snape had me cleaning cauldrons and he did not believe that I cleaned 4 of them in under an hour and so we had an argument. He insulted me and I insulted him back. He then declared that I had cheated somehow and he was going to find out just how. I was staring into his eyes and suddenly I think I heard a spell or something. I didn't hear the whole thing but I heard 'legile…' and then my memories started flying in front of my eyes and then suddenly I felt a energy surge and I started seeing Snape's memories. I think then he somehow broke whatever spell or curse it was and I ran out of there."

Ron still had a look of disbelief on his face but the twins looked convinced now. "Are you sure Snape used an audible spell and that he had eye-contact?"

"Yes that is the last thing I remember, staring into his eyes then I heard him say that spell then the memories."

The twins looked thoughtful again. It was Ron who broke silence first. "Are you saying that Snape can read my thoughts, hell is there actually a spell to help others read my thoughts?"

Harry didn't answer anything, he really had no answers. It was George who spoke up. "I think Snape and Dumbledore can read our thoughts. Well we at least suspect that they can. They both know when we are lying or telling the truth. Every time we have been caught by Snape he knew exactly whom we had pranked and where. We had no concrete proof but it was just an instinct that he could read our mind. Though I don't know about the spell because neither Snape nor Dumbledore had ever used a spell on us."

Harry gave a silent sigh of relief. At least the twins believed him. But his problem wasn't yet solved. "Why did he use a spell on me if he can read your minds without using a spell?"

No one had an answer to that.

"Wouldn't reading others mind be illegal or something?" Ron was still scandalized that someone could actually read his mind.

"For Dumbledore, perhaps not. He's the Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump and Merlin knows what else. I don't think he would misuse that power but I am sure he doesn't advertise that he can read minds. I am not so sure about Snape though. But remember we are still basing this on the assumption that they can indeed read minds or whatever it is called." The twins responded and for the first time that night switching over to their twin-speak.

"So we still have no concrete answer or no concrete proof that Snape tried to read my mind today, something which could well be illegal. Any ideas whom we could ask? Someone who wouldn't rat on us. Remember I still have a month-long detention with Snape and perhaps he has added some for throwing a cauldron over his head."

"You what?" The twins asked and started laughing loudly.

"Bill;" Ron spoke up rationally for the first time that evening. "We could owl Bill and ask him about it. He is a curse-breaker after all. He has to know about it. He's at home this month instead of Egypt for some training program isn't he? He should be able to get an answer to us quickly."

The twins looked at Ron as if he had grown an extra head. "We are officially impressed Ronnikens. We suspected Snape for the last six months and we never thought of Bill. We have spent precious time searching through the restricted section in the library. We will write a letter right now but we need a fast owl if we are going to get his reply back before your detention tomorrow, Harry."

Harry offered Hedwig and the twins wrote the letter and asked Bill in block letters to keep everything a secret from their mother. The twins and Ron signed it and insisted on mentioning in the post-script that the owl belonged to Harry rather the Harry Potter and hoped that Bill would draw the appropriate inference from that.

Harry took the letter and headed towards the owlery and hoped that Hedwig wouldn't be out hunting. Ron volunteered to accompany him and the twins went to their dorm without a comment. Harry suspected that they knew that he and Ron had been wandering in the castle after hours. As the duo reached the portrait hole they were accosted by a bossy voice.

"Where are you two going? It is beyond curfew you know, you will lose points if you are caught and you would get into a lot of trouble." It was Hermione.

Harry continued on but Ron groaned, stopped and tried to give her an explanation. "Look Hermione it is an emergency we have to get to the owlery, so would you mind moving out of the way?"

Hermione acted as if she hadn't even heard him and followed the two out of the portrait-hole. "Why do you insist on breaking the rules? I will complain to the prefects about you. Or perhaps even Professor McGonagall. She would set you straight."

Harry finally lost his control and blurted out. "I have a month full of detention already. I think I can hardly get into anymore trouble. Life is not all about rules Hermione."

Harry practically started running off towards the owlery, a moment later Ron caught up and a few seconds later Hermione was right next to him. "What are doing here Hermione?"

"Well the Fat-lady is not in her portrait, so I can hardly get into the common-room. I am going to follow you and if I get caught I will tell the truth that I was trying to stop you and ended up out of the common-room."

Ron groaned at that but Harry was single-mindedly concentrating on getting to the owlery. Peeves had shown them a couple of short-cuts to get to the owlery but they had never really used it again. They reached the owlery without incident and to Harry's delight Hedwig was still in the owlery. He tried to ignore Hermione's splutterings about illegal routes and attached the letter to Hedwig's leg.

"Please deliver the letter safely to Bill, girl and please try and get here before dinner tomorrow. Be safe girl and don't over exert yourself."

Harry turned around to see Hermione and Ron arguing their guts out and then he heard a sound. He shushed the two and surprisingly they went silent almost instantaneously. Then he heard the voice.

"Sniff them around my dear. I heard some voices here. I know there are students out here. Come on dear sniff around."

Harry, Ron and Hermione froze. It was Filch the care-taker and his mangy cat. Harry peeked around the owlery door and saw that Filch had entered a small ante-room with his cat. He signaled the two and they took off. But Filch heard them run and then spotted them and ran after them. Luckily they were quite far-away for Filch to recognize them. But Harry panicked and lost the sense of direction completely. After running around wildly for 10-minutes the trio was no-where near the Gryffindor common-room and Filch was somehow managing to tail them.

They reached a corridor on the third floor and stopped to catch their breath. Harry tried to remember as to why exactly had Dumbledore mentioned the third floor corridor in the welcoming speech but he heard Filch's wheezing breath and the three ran again. They reached the end of the corridor and came-up against a closed door. Ron tried the door but it was locked. Harry groaned. They were done in for now. It was Hermione who whipped out her wand and jumped at the door.

"Alohomora" and the door clicked open. The trio ran into the room and shut the door behind them and gave a sigh of relief. They heard Filch come into the corridor and Peeves distracting him and then they heard a low growl and felt hot breath on their necks. They turned around almost as one and the sight that befell their eyes almost froze them. They were facing a gigantic dog. He was almost 15-feet tall but that wasn't the scariest thing about him. This dog had three heads. Simply given he was a monster. Suddenly Harry remembered that Professor Dumbledore had banned students from the third floor corridor and boy he had a good reason.

Harry was the first one to move. He opened the door and stepped out, Ron and Hermione followed suit. They took one look at each other and ran off towards the Gryffindor common room. This time they made their way there all-right, they gave the password to the fat-lady who had returned and literally fell into the couch. It was sometime before anyone spoke.

"Well I hope that taught you a lesson and I hope you understand now why exactly is it dangerous to wander around castle after curfew." Hermione started lecturing the two.

Ron interrupted her. "What the hell was the dog doing there?"

"Maybe it is guarding something." Harry replied.

"It was guarding a trap-door." Hermione responded.

"What?"

"Well it was standing over a trap-door in the floor. So I guess it was indeed guarding it." Hermione explained.

Ron looked at her like she had grown an extra head. "You can talk normally. I thought the 'bossy' tone was the only tone you could talk in."

Harry started laughing at the comment and Hermione harrumphed and said something about never talking again and stalked off to bed. Ron and Harry followed suit soon and went to their dorm and fell into a deep tired sleep.

The next day Harry could barely concentrate on lessons. He was continuously wondering what exactly would Bill's reply be. As if that was not enough the three headed dog had given him something new to think about. He wondered if the package that Hagrid had picked up at Gringotts was beneath the trap-door. He decided to let go of that for now, that was the least of his worries. Ron and Harry had breakfast and lunch in the kitchens as he wanted to avoid not Snape but Hermione who seemed to be bursting to tell anyone and everyone about why the third-floor corridor was off-limits. They had taken time after lunch to track down Peeves and thank him for saving them. They were sure if Peeves wasn't there Filch would have certainly caught them.

The twins had estimated that if Hedwig flew really fast the earliest that she could be expected back was dinner. So for the first time in over four days, Ron and Harry found themselves at the Gryffindor table at dinner-time.

Harry had barely eaten anything since dinner had begun. The twins hoping that Hedwig would return sometime during the dinner were sitting across Harry and were uncharacteristically quiet and not touching any food either. The atmosphere at the Gryffindor table was almost rather expectant. Ever since Harry's run-in with Snape no one had seen Harry at the table during meal-times, which was four days ago and it had been centuries since the twins were quiet at dinner-times. Most of the Gryffindors had also observed that the twins, Ron and Harry were barely eating anything. Suddenly the majority of the Gryffindors weren't hungry anymore. As a result the Gryffindor table which was generally loud and boisterous was quiet, very quiet. There wasn't even any sound of cutlery. This hadn't escaped the attention of the remaining tables. Hence even the Ravenclaw, the Slytherin and the Hufflepuff tables were looking around confused and gradually within five minutes of the commencement of dinner almost no-one in the Great Hall was eating or drinking a thing. It was almost as if the entire student population was expecting some kind of a mega-prank or something.

The bizarre quietness in the Great Hall was almost too loud for the Professors at the staff table to bear. Professor Dumbledore couldn't remember the last time the Great Hall had been so quiet, voluntarily and that was saying something. Professor McGonagall finally decided that she needed to do something about it and she turned towards her boss, so to speak.

"Albus, do you have any idea why almost every student in the Great Hall is so quiet not to mention that no one has eaten a tiny morsel of food today?"

Everyone at the staff table looked up from their dinner plates hoping that their headmaster would have an answer for them. Dumbledore only smiled genially at his staff members, wondering how exactly was he supposed to know why were hundreds of generally ravenous teenagers suddenly avoiding a sumptuous dinner like the plague. He wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that Harry had returned to the table for the first time in four days. He had hoped that Severus would be able to see Harry for Harry rather than James's son but it seemed that it was not to be the case. Of course Harry hadn't exactly being an angel while handling Severus but then he should not have been forced to deal with a Professor who personally hated him at all. Dumbledore had been pleasantly surprised when most Professors' had said that Harry seemed to be an above-intelligent student and more than that he seemed to take others along with him. Of course one week was too short a time to judge someone accurately but the signs were encouraging. The boy in question did seem quite nervous at the moment and was fidgeting quite a bit, but Dumbledore put that down to Harry being nervous about Snape's detention more than anything else.

Meanwhile Harry could hardly spare a thought for the unusual quietness around the Great Hall. If Hedwig didn't turn up within forty minutes he would have to go Snape's detention. Not that he was really afraid of going but he didn't want to walk blindly into it again. Suddenly he saw a white object streaming from towards a window high up in the wall. He turned around and his heart gave a leap when he realized that the white object was indeed Hedwig and that she did have a letter attached to her talons. The sound of an owl's soft hooting and the sound of the wings attracted everyone's attention in the quiet Great Hall. As it was customary for the owls to deliver the mail in the morning everyone was wondering what exactly was an owl doing delivering a letter in the evening and to top it off it had headed over to none other that Harry Potter.

Harry allowed Hedwig to land on his shoulder and he gently unfastened the letter from her legs, fed her a piece of meat from his plate. Hedwig took a sip of water from his goblet gave a grateful hoot and headed towards the owlery. Harry looked at Ron and the twins and within moments the four of them were streaming towards the doors of the Great Hall and exited the castle and started going towards the lake.

In the meantime the entire Great Hall had watched the four Gryffindors receive the letter and then the four bolting from the Great Hall at a furious speed. The fact that they had barely eaten anything and that they were nervous hadn't escaped anyone's attention. No one forgot the fact that the twins were pranksters of the highest order and suddenly no-one wanted to be in the Great Hall anymore. It was pandemonium after that. Hundreds of students tried to make their way out of the Great Hall, all at one time. The Slytherins managed to overturn their own table, breaking a lot of cutlery in the process. A lot of Ravenclaws seated next to them fell over their overturned table. It needed only one girl to scream softly as she fell and twenty others joined her and another extra twenty joining after every 15-seconds. The Professors tried to calm down things but were failing miserably and eventually only adding to the confusion. For the first time ever firecrackers from Albus Dumbledore's wand failed to bring about order. Eventually things quitened down only after the Great Hall had almost emptied of all it's students. The only persons remaining in the Great Hall were the professors and the students who had sprained their legs and were trying to hobble their way out.

The Weasleys and Harry reached the lake and Harry who was still carrying the letter opened it and the four bent down together to read it.

_Dear Fred, George, Ron and Harry too,_

_Let me immediately answer your questions since you said that it was an emergency. Yes you are correct when you guess that Snape has been trying to read your minds. The technique is known as Legilimency. It is not really 'reading of the mind' as much as it is 'reading of the surface thoughts'. An expert legilimens can do that with merely eye-contact and this is known as passive legilimency. So you are correct when you guess that Professor Dumbledore and Snape can indeed read you minds or only your current thoughts merely by eye-contact, though it does require a high degree of concentration to achieve. Now as far as the spell that Harry thinks he's heard I would like to believe that Snape didn't use it as it is highly illegal and used to literally sift through a person's memories. However I think, though I am not sure but it is legal for Dumbledore with all those positions of his to use passive legilimency. Snape I am sure is not allowed to use passive legilimency let alone use the legilimens spell. You wouldn't find a book in the Hogwarts' library that will teach you legilimency but I am sure that you can find a book that will tell you about Occlumency. Learn it if you can, it is completely harmless to learn and frankly needs force of mind rather that knowledge of magic to learn. It will also help you increase your power of retaining and recollection. Well take care and let me know what you guys do and don't tell mum that I told you all these things._

_Yours truly,_

_Bill._

_P.S:__ Do tell me what you guys do. Just wait for the month to get over before you owl me again. I would be in Egypt again but I don't think this owl will have any problems finding me._

Harry was the last one to finish the letter as he had read it almost three times. George and Fred were looking up at him expectantly as if waiting for him to tell them the future course of action. Ron was gazing over the lake and it was he who spoke up.

"Well I think the remaining detentions are going to be interesting."

Harry gave a small smirk at that. "Do you guys know that the Hat said that both Slytherin and Gryffindor would fit me like a second skin? In fact it devised a test for me to decide where I fit the best. I have a feeling Snape is just going to find out why Slytherin would have fit me like a second skin too. Unless Snape has suddenly developed suicidal tendencies, I have a feeling I am through with my month-long detentions."

Ron looked scandalized that Harry would have even been considered for Slytherin but the twins seemed to love every minute of it. They had huge smiles on their faces and it was Fred who spoke up.

"Are you sure, you are Harry Potter aged 11-years. You sound a hell lot bigger than that."

"Yeah I am Harry Potter all right. I have been like this forever, I think. Hell I am feeling really hungry now. You guys interested in having a bite in the kitchens?"

Fred and George stopped laughing at once and looked at Harry with a look that he couldn't quite place. "Are you telling me that you guys found out the kitchens within the first week of your Hogwarts' life when it took us almost two years to do so?"

"Stick around guys and you might pick up a few tricks." Ron replied grinning widely at the twins.

The twins suddenly jumped at Ron, grabbed him and started shaking him. "Who are you and what have you done t our brother?" The four started laughing merrily as they headed towards the kitchen. They enjoyed a delicious meal as they listened to Chucky complaining that almost nothing was consumed by the students at the evening meal. They thanked her for the meal and headed towards the common room which was unusually quiet and almost completely empty even though it was barely just after curfew.

Harry couldn't believe it. He had been at Hogwarts for barely a week and half and already he had being summoned by his Head of House for the third time and on top of it he was going to miss breakfast. At least this time Ron was going to accompany him. No matter how hard he though he couldn't come up with a single reason as to why in the world Professor McGonagall want to see him and Ron together. If it was only him he would have guessed that it was because he had bunked Snape's detention but that couldn't be the case as Ron didn't have the month-long detention. The two finally reached finally reached her office and entered upon knocking and were surprised to see Fred and George seated at her table already.

"Take your seats, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley." She waited for the two of them to sit and then made visible attempts to try and calm herself. "Do the four of you know, why have I called you?"

The four looked at each other and wondered what this was all about. It was Harry who replied. "No Mam, we have no idea."

"Is that so?" She replied primly. "Well then, kindly explain your actions of the last evening."

Now the four were totally confused. The only thing that they could think of was their visit to the kitchens but that was hardly a crime as the twins had told them that they had been caught there a couple of times already without any consequences.

"Our actions Mam?" Harry asked confusedly.

Professor McGonagall was now visibly angry and her lips had thinned into a very slight line. "Very well if you insist on making it difficult. The four of you barely ate anything at dinner yesterday. You were uncharacteristically quiet through the dinner and then you Mr. Potter received a letter and the four of you bolted out of the Great Hall at lightning speed. Am I correct in my observations so far?"

The four exchanged a look, it was clear from the looks on their faces that they still had no idea as where exactly was the conversation heading. Ron looked at Professor McGonagall and found her looking at him expectantly waiting for an answer. He nodded and mumbled a 'yes'. Professor McGonagall's nostrils flared at that.

"Thank You for owing up to your prank. Now all that remains is you punishment. I believe……"

But Harry never allowed her to complete the sentence. He could understand Snape practically tormenting him and the Gryffindors in general, but Professor McGonagall was quite an enigma. Harry had a feeling that she genuinely cared for her charges no matter what she showed externally yet she tried her very best to be fair and Harry thought that she ended-up being a bit too strict with her own house.

"Mam, I…..we still do not understand. We received a letter during dinner and then decided to leave the table so as to read it in a bit of privacy. How does that constitute a prank? Unless there are rules against receiving letters during dinner-time, I believe we have broken no rules at all."

Professor McGonagall looked like she was thinking over Harry's words. "So the three of you hadn't set-up some elaborate prank in the Great Hall or in the food at dinner time?" When the four said 'No' she continued. "If you hadn't pranked the food why were not eating any?"

"We had written a letter to….to a…to a friend and were expecting a reply by dinner-time and were simply anxious about the reply." The twins replied in twin-speak of course.

"What was the letter about whose reply put four young boys off their food?"

Harry knew they had hit a snag well at least a bump. He wondered if he could simply tell his Head of the House about Snape's legilimency and be done with it. But he hesitated. It was the word of a student against that of a professor. A professor who had assigned him a month long detention to top it off. He didn't have any concrete proof to back it up really. Ron and the twins were looking at him. It was going to be his call on the contents of the letter.

"We had written a letter to Bill Weasley Professor. I have lost the key to my vault and I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to access my account any longer. I was talking to Ron about it and the twins heard it and advised me to owl their brother who works for Gringotts. As I really didn't know anybody else from Gringotts I owled him and asked for his help."

Professor McGonagall looked like she was weighing Harry's answer. Though it seemed that she did not completely believe the story behind the letter Harry thought that she was at least convinced that they were not behind the so called prank.

"Very well, I believe the entire fiasco that happened last night was nothing but a misunderstanding fueled by mob mentality. The four of you are free to go. As you are quite late for your classed here are notes for your professors. Kindly proceed directly to your respective classes without any further deviations."

The four wordlessly got up and stepped out of the office and started walking away briskly. The twins went towards the dungeons after promising to find out what exactly was the fiasco that Professor McGonagall was talking about and Ron and Harry proceeded towards the Charms corridor.

"Why didn't you tell her about Snape's legilimency?" Ron asked Harry.

"We had no concrete proof, Ron. Imagine how it would have looked to an outsider. A student who is to serve a month long detention accuses the professor who assigned the punishment of doing illegal stuff. She would have torn into me. We need something more to back it up. I wish I could talk to my godfather or guardian." Harry didn't want to say the last sentence out loud but it slipped out. Ron turned around and looked at him clearly astonished at the accidental revelation.

"You have a godfather and a guardian too. Then why do you stay with the Dursleys?" Ron asked Harry.

"Well lets just say that they are both permanently incapacitated." Ron didn't look satisfied at that so Harry continued. "Well my godfather is serving a life sentence in Azkaban for mass-murder and my guardian is a werewolf."

Ron looked shocked at that. "So you have never met them?"

"Met them? I didn't know I had a godfather and a guardian until a few weeks ago when I read my parents' will."

Ron was pensive for a moment. "You do realize that you may never get to meet your godfather? They very rarely allow visitors in Azkaban and certainly never underage ones. To top it off most prisoners in Azkaban go insane or die within a few years."

Harry only nodded.

"You never have anything easy nor straight-forward do you?"

Harry could only smile wryly at that.


	7. First Flight and Halloween

A/N: I know that the House Cup was given a lot of importance in canon but probably it will not have that much importance in my fic. Perhaps Gryffindor might not even win the House Cup. That was one point from canon which I could never really digest. Gryffindors are not supposed to be prim and proper. Percy is and he is considered to be an anomaly time and time again. So I don't think that Gryffindors would care about the house cup as long as perhaps the Slytherins or Snape are humiliated in front of the entire school. The Quidditch Cup should mean more to them. (a hint perhaps…….).

Harry slowly walked up to the office door and knocked. After a massive brain-storming session with the twins they had all reached a conclusion that it would be for the best if Harry actually told Snape that he wouldn't be attending the detentions anymore. The twins warned Harry that Snape was likely to call his bluff but they had no idea as to how Harry was supposed to counter that. They all agreed on one thing, they could not go to a Professor without any more proof. That was sounding a flimsy reason to Harry with every passing hour but he still didn't want to tell Professor McGonagall. Snape was apparently not in a good mood at all ever since he heard that the four had not been punished for their 'non-prank'. It also didn't help his mood as the majority of who needed some kind of medical attention happened to be Slytherins. Harry tried schooling his features and with his heart beating wildly he entered the office.

"You are late Potter." Snape sneered. "Since you are 4 minutes late; I think that will be four points from Gryffindor. Continue with the cauldrons today."

Harry didn't move from his place just in front of Snape's desk. "I believe I am through with the detentions Sir."

"What, you arrogant little imbecile! You will serve….." Snape began but Harry didn't give him any chance to complete.

"I think you and I both know the reasons for me not continuing with the detentions. You are of course free to complain to my head of house, I will be delighted to present my view of things to her. Good Night Sir." Harry practically ran out of the dungeons giving Snape no chance to 'call his bluff' as the twins had put it.

Harry spent the next day rather nervously. He expected Snape to come bursting through and demand that he return to the detentions or Professor McGonagall summoning him 'again'. On Thursday it was time for their first flying lessons. Harry had been really looking forward to this, especially after Madame Pomfrey's comments about his father's flying skills. The only damper was the fact that the Gryffindors were going to share the flying lessons with the Slytherins. The Slytherins had been shooting him and the Weasleys dirty looks since Tuesday. Of course the fact that they had all fallen victims to a prank that did not exist did not help their egos. Most of the Gryffindors had laughed after learning the truth. The Ravenclaws were not pleased that, in spite of being the wisest they had all fallen victim but they were at least not holding a grudge and the Hufflepuffs were simply happy that there wasn't any prank.

Draco Malfoy was being a right pain in the neck with his comments through breakfast on Thursday. He tried to snatch Neville's 'Remembra Ball' but that was foiled when Professor McGonagall turned up at the table seconds later. His tall claims about being able to fly like a bird were beginning to sound like badly though-out lies to Harry. But surprisingly Malfoy was not the only one who had incredulous stories to tell about flying on a broomstick. Everyone raised in a wizarding family had tales, tall tales to tell. Even Ron was telling everyone tales about the time he barely escaped a hang-glider on Charlie's old broom. Hermione tried to learn flying through a book though only Neville was listening to her after a few minutes.

Finally the first flying lesson arrived and the Gryffindors and the Slytherins made their way to the Quidditch Field. Harry took a moment to soak in the high and wide stands and the perfectly manicured grass on the field. Harry thought that for a game played in the air the field was rather well-maintained. Madame Hooch arrived and led them out of the stadium, behind one of the enormous stands. Twenty-odd broomsticks were laid on the ground in a neat line. They were obviously not in the best of shape with the twigs bent at odd angles and so forth. Harry had also heard the twins complaining that the brooms were difficult to handle.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!"'

"UP" everyone shouted.

Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, but it was one of the few that did. Hermione Granger's had simply rolled over on the ground, and Neville's hadn't moved at all. Perhaps brooms, like horses, could tell when you were afraid, thought Harry; there was a quaver in Neville's voice that said only too clearly that he wanted to keep his feet on the ground.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Harry and Ron were delighted when she told Malfoy he'd been doing it wrong for years.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said

Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle -- three-- two --"

But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.

"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle -- twelve feet -- twenty feet. Harry saw his scared white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and -- WHAM -- a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay facedown on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher, and started to drift lazily toward the forbidden forest and out of sight.

Madam Hooch was bending over Neville, her face as white as his. "Broken wrist," Harry heard her mutter. "Come on, boy -- it's all right, up you get." She turned to the rest of the class.

"None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."

Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him.

No sooner were they out of ear-shot that Malfoy started laughing at Neville and how he had cried after falling from the broom. The Slytherins laughed at that and some Gryffindors tried to defend him. Harry tuned out of the exchange, an exchange he knew was going to go no where. He concentrated on his broom and said "UP" again and the broom thudded into his hands confidently. He was wondering how it would really feel to fly around when he heard his name being called out. He looked up to see Malfoy holding Neville's 'Remembra Ball' in his hand.

"So what do you say Potter, where should I keep this? I think I will keep it on the top of some tree for Longbottom to find it."

Harry was thoroughly irritated by now. He wondered if Malfoy had the guts to really get into the air after being expressly told not to do so. He decided to call his bluff.

"You don't have the guts Malfoy." It was a statement and a challenge. "And I sincerely doubt that you have enough skills to actually fly well enough." This was an outright 'dare'. Almost to add effect, Harry mounted his broom.

Malfoy didn't say anything but made a great show of mounting the broom. Harry knew immediately that he surely did not intend to fly. He started to make it look like he was getting to take off as well. Malfoy mounted the broom and kicked off…….almost kicked off. Even though Malfoy wasn't scared he didn't want to really take off and the broom could understand it. It simply rolled over and unseated Malfoy. The Slytherins looked impassive but the Gryffindors burst out laughing.

"Trying to bluff your way through Malfoy or can you simply not fly?"

Malfoy was incensed now. The mounted the broom again and this time he really kicked off into the air. "What happened Potter? Can't fly at all? What a pity that Longbottom is going to lose his 'Remembra ball'!"

If Harry had been thinking rationally he would have never taken off after Malfoy into the air. They had been specifically ordered by their instructor not to fly. He was in a lot of hot-water as it was. He had never flown in the air before, never ever. Even if Malfoy's boasting was way off mark he was a decent enough flier. But then no rational person would ever fly on a piece of charmed wood anyways. Moments after Malfoy was in the air, Harry kicked off the ground.

As he left the ground behind a strange thing happened. As the air whipped past Harry's ears it gave him a great sense of familiarity. It was like a fish had returned to water after struggling to walk on land or literally a bird returning to flying after years of struggling to walk on the land. He instinctively knew what to do. The broom reacted to his touch magically, well literally and figuratively. He shot off vertically into the air and leveled out. The wind was shipping past his ears at an unbelievable speed and he wondered how high he had got. He looked down and almost fell down; he could barely make out the other students on the ground. He pressed his weight down and started zooming back towards the ground. About 10-metres before the ground he saw Malfoy who was staring at him. He instantaneously leveled out and literally blasted towards him.

Malfoy panicked and started steering away, but Harry was fast catching up. He caught up with Malfoy and swerved straight into Malfoy's path forcing him to slow down. Harry heard someone whoop on the ground. Almost as if fueled by that, he turned around and started zipping around Malfoy's broom. He started aiming his broom at Malfoy's feet. Malfoy wasn't agile enough on the broom to avoid Harry horizontally, so he was forced to climb further into the air to avoid probably being unsettled. Finally Harry got tired of their game and turned around for one final time and faced up to Malfoy.

"Would you like to go any further into the air Malfoy?" Malfoy was visibly shaking by this time. "No goons to protect you up in the air Malfoy. Give me the ball please."

Malfoy realized that he was in a no win situation…..almost. He smirked at Harry. "If you want the ball catch it yourself." He finished the sentence and threw the ball into the air. Harry watched as it arched in the air and then plummeted to the ground.

Harry then dived after it. It seemed to be the perfectly natural thing for him to do. Harry didn't know how fast he was going but he had a feeling that it was very fast. He heard someone scream and even a cheer on the ground. He was barely 10-feet off the ground when he caught the ball and leveled out. He skimmed the grass on the ground, slowed down and jumped off the broom to complete silence.

He turned around and paled. Paled completely. He had just found out the reason for the utter silence on the ground. Standing in front of the group of students with a practically bleached face was Professor McGonagall.

She walked up to Harry with a look on her face which clearly said that he was in hot water…..no boiling hot water. When she was a couple of feet away from Harry, he braced himself for a firing of a lifetime. Instead Professor McGonagall wound her right arm and let it flow straight on to Harry's face.

"Are you crazy Harry?" Harry noticed the use of his first name. "You could have been killed and over what? Never in my life not even with your father and his friends have I...Follow me Mr. Potter." She finished and started walking briskly towards the castle.

Harry was thunderstruck to say the least. A bruise was already starting to form around his eye and it was stinging. He had been punched many times before but never by a Professor. He wondered if he should be feeling angry that he had been punched but surprisingly he didn't. Professor McGonagall hadn't punched him out of anger or with malice but out of worry. Harry barely registered the comment about his father and his friends but he dared not ask anything. Worry or not she was pretty angry with him right now. Harry barely noticed that they had reached the Charms' Corridor and Professor McGonagall stopped before Professor Flitwick's classroom and knocked on the door.

"Sorry to disturb you Professor, but I could please borrow Mr. Wood for a few moments please." She had barely closed the door when a burly fifth-year Gryffindor walked out. Harry was quite confused now. The older boy seemed to be equally confused but they both silently followed a still visibly steaming McGonagall into an un-used classroom.

"Mr. Potter this is Oliver Wood the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Mr. Wood I have found you a seeker. He caught the ball with minimum of fuss after an enormous dive. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it better."

Wood's expression changed from surprise to disbelief to pure joy. "Are you sure Professor? Of course you are sure Professor. Harry isn't it? You fit the bill of a seeker perfectly. You are short and light-weight. We have to get him a nice broom Professor. A Cleansweep 7 or a Nimbus perhaps. But what about the first years' rule Professor?"

"First Years are not allowed their own brooms, Mr. Wood. There is no rule barring them from the House Quidditch teams. I hope to hear you practicing hard Mr. Potter and I am extremely sorry about your eye. If you want to…."

Harry cut in. "It's perfectly all-right Mam. I completely understand why you did it. Err actually I don't completely understand but I think I have a very good idea about it. It's the intent that matters you acted instinctively that's all. And it does prove that you are indeed a Gryffindor at heart. We were all beginning to believe that we had a Ravenclaw as a Head of the House."

If Harry was surprised after the punch, Professor McGonagall was completely gob smacked after listening to Harry's explanation. She couldn't help the moisture that was developing in her eyes. "You may look distinctively like your father but you are completely your mother's son." A visibly emotional McGonagall left the room leaving behind a confused yet somehow happy Harry.

Dinner that evening was an interesting affair. By then the entire school had heard that Harry had been punched in the face by none other than the ever in control, prim and proper Professor McGonagall. To top it off Harry had forgotten to go to the Hospital Wing and now had an enviable shiner. For the first time in many days, Harry was actually rather hungry and barely looked up from his dinner that evening. That of course did not stop the other students from whispering and pointing towards him and most were smiling as the reason for his shiner was discussed over and over again.

Ron could hardly believe that Harry was in the Quidditch team. But then he decided that it was a certainty anyways. "Remember what Madame Pomfrey had said about you being in the team, the only variable was which year. You would have made it next year for sure. We haven't had a permanent seeker for quite some time now."

Fred and George turned up halfway through the meal to congratulate Harry. "Little Harrikins, who would have thought?" They wiped away a false tear before continuing. "Welcome to the team, we are the beaters but keep the news a secret, Wood doesn't want even all the Gryffindors to know about it. Says it will give us an advantage. Well see you at the practices."

Harry moved on to the desert which happened to be Treacle Tarts, his favourite. His desert was cut short by Malfoy coming over to gloat.

"Having a last meal, Potter?"

Harry groaned and looked up. Malfoy was flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. He was smirking confidently as if he had just won the Quidditch Cup.

"Well now that you have your goons next to you are you feeling brave? You were scared to death up in the air."

"I will take you on alone anytime Potter. How about a wizard's duel tonight at midnight in the trophy-room?"

Harry looked at Malfoy and wondered if he was simply bluffing. He didn't know about Malfoy but he barely knew any spells or curses. He was wondering what to say when Ron answered.

"He will be there. I will be his second. Who will be yours'?"

Malfoy looked as if he was sizing up Crabbe and Goyle. "Goyle. Don't be late. Be ready to lose." He finished and walked away.

"Okay Ron, listen to me. We are not going to the trophy-room tonight. Malfoy was bluffing. He is probably going to tip off Snape about it and not turn up at all."

"You sure Harry. I mean if you don't turn up, it will look like you….we chickened out."

"Trust me on this Ron. Malfoy is a Slytherin to the core. He relishes getting me into trouble." Ron still didn't look convinced. "All-right if you want confirmation, we will ask Peeves to help us out. We will meet him after the dinner and tell us if Malfoy turns up. If he does we will go. Okay?"

Ron's Gryffindor pride seemed to have been soothed by that. He agreed to it and the duo left to find Peeves. Ron was still on a high about Harry's appointment as seeker and insisted that Harry borrow 'Quidditch through the Ages' from the library. In their haste to find Peeves they missed a very confused Hermione who had overheard the entire conversation.

Peeves was more than happy to help them out. Harry asked Peeves to check out the Slytherin common room at 5 to 12 and then come to the Gryffindor common-room and tell them whether Malfoy was still in the common-room or no. Harry even gave Peeves his wrist watch. It was a cheap plastic watch that the Dursleys had got him, infact he was surprised that it still worked. Peeves was overjoyed to receive the wrist-watch and immediately strapped it on and zoomed out of the wall, wrist-watch and all.

It was then that Ron and Harry realized that the wrist-watch had made it through the wall as well. They called back Peeves and asked him about it. As he didn't know anything about it, Ron started experimenting with other things such as books. But Peeves didn't manage to carry them through. Adding it as another mystery of Hogwarts the duo made their way to the Hospital Wing. They knocked on Madame Pomfrey's door and entered.

Madame Pomfrey looked up and caught sight of Harry and his shiner. "Mr. Potter, didn't I tell you to stay away from physical harm until you make the Quidditch team? And here you go and get slugged by a Professor. Now sit down on the chair, I will get the cream."

"Don't Madame Pomfrey; I didn't come to get the cream. I still have some….er….a lot left over from last week. I just wanted to ask if you happened to be a seer."

Madame Pomfrey was quite surprised at that question. She was about to start admonishing him about not completing a prescribed course but the question completely threw her off the track.

"A seer; Mr. Potter? I am a certified healer also a part time mind-healer however I can assure you that I am not a seer. Why did you ask me that anyways?"

"Well, Madame Pomfrey can you keep a secret?"

"Perhaps."

"Oh don't worry, Professor McGonagall already knows about it."

"All right then, I guess I can keep a secret." She was really intrigued now.

"Well Mam remember last week when you were insisting that it wouldn't be long before I made the Quidditch team. Guess what…..I am going to be on the Quidditch team this year. Don't worry though I will try my best not to get injured. Good Night Mam."

Harry left with a flourish and left behind a groaning Madame Pomfrey.

That night Ron and Harry were hanging rather late in the common-room. Harry was reading up a book by the name 'Curses to use on your Friends', just in case Malfoy did indeed going to turn up. Eventually both of them were asleep well before midnight and were woken up by an excited Peeves.

"Scarhead, wake up Peeves has got news for you." Harry had barely opened his eyes when Peeves started up again. "The Malfoy-boy didn't leave his common-room even at 10minutes to midnight. So Peeves is going in and looking for him and finding him sleeping in his bed."

Harry didn't get the entire thing but he had heard enough to know that Malfoy was indeed trying to fool him. He thanked Peeves who was gazing at Harry's wrist-watch with a deep look of longing.

"Listen Peeves, you can keep the wrist-watch if you want to. I never liked it too much, never as much as you do anyways."

An ecstatic Peeves thanked Harry who had already laid his head back on the couch and was fast asleep before Peeves had finished his thanks.

Harry woke up on Halloween morning and took a few moments to gather his thoughts. He had been at Hogwarts for almost two months now. Two, best months of his life.

He had friends for the first time. For the first time he knew people like Hagrid and even Professor McGonagall who really cared for him. After the initial staring the rest of the students were genuinely accepting him as just another student though no one seemed to want to forget his first day and the twins did their best to ensure that no one forgot the 'non-prank' to which the entire school had fallen victims too. He was a part of a team for the first time and playing a game which he enjoyed.

Madame Pomfrey's words though seemed almost prophetic now. After the first practice where Wood had him catching him golf balls, Harry had been put through the paces as if his life literally depended upon Quidditch. Wood was convinced that Harry was International-material and he completely refused to listen to anyone or look at the facts which said that Harry was yet to play a single match.

Wood had the team playing with three bludgers instead of the regulation two all because of Harry who had wondered out aloud if playing with three bludgers would make it easier to dodge two in the actual game. The third one ensured that the team was always looking over it's shoulders. It degraded their performance at first but slowly but surely it was improving. Of course there were more than a few injuries before the team could handle the twins and the three bludgers all at one time, which meant that Madame Pomfrey wasn't pleased and she was furious when she over-heard that there were three bludgers instead of two. Wood promised not to use the third one any further but used it at the next practice itself and after that the team had managed to avoid the bludgers more out of fear of Madame Pomfrey than anything else.

His lessons were coming along nicely too. Well at least he thought that they were coming around nicely, most of the professors thought that he was brilliant in class as Harry not only managed to complete his tasks in Charms and Transfiguration rather easily he strived to ensure that others especially Ron managed to complete their tasks as easily. Harry felt that Ron was a bit jealous of him at first but when he realized that whenever he accepted Harry's help the two almost everytime beat everyone in class he pushed away that jealousy. Even though the practical work came easily to Harry, he simply wasn't a researcher; which meant that he could read books out of curiosity especially when he wanted to know certain things but he could never do that for a homework assignment. Consequently his homework grades were nothing to boast about.

If there was one subject which Harry couldn't cope up, then it was 'History of Magic'. Every time he tried to read a History book he found himself dozing off. Defence against the Dark arts was completely theoretical and sometimes competed with History as the most boring lesson.

Then there was Potions. Harry was surprised that Snape had not tried to put him into life-long detentions for bunking away from the detentions but then he figured Snape hadn't been an angel during the detention. The twins had tried searching for books on Occlumency in the Restricted Section but they were unsuccessful so far. After the explosive first lesson, things had petered out into a set procedure. Harry used to be quite good at every potion that he brewed, but Snape always marked him as low as possible. In spite of that all the Gryffindors except Hermione turned to Harry for help while brewing Potions. Harry would always be at the centre and the rest of the Gryffindors would arrange themselves around him. Of course Harry helping out the others ensured that Gryffindor lost a lot of points but that hardly seemed to matter to anyone but Percy anymore. Even Hermione couldn't defend Snape the Professor. Eventually, after a month or so Snape started ignoring the Gryffindors completely, this suited them just fine.

Nothing however could stop Malfoy from being a total arse. He took every opportunity to heckle Harry and Ron. Harry over his lack of family and Ron over his lack of money. Harry was troubled by it at first but as Malfoy kept on repeating it, it started sounding more and more like the repeated whining of a small kid and he started ignoring Malfoy.

Then there was Peeves. True to his word, he had showed Ron and Harry around the castle. He remembered passwords and secret passages that he assured no-one but some of the ghosts knew of. How Peeves remembered the passwords to the literally hundreds of portrait holes always befuddled Harry, but then after existing for hundreds of years as a spirit perhaps memory was not an issue. Everyday Ron and Harry spent as much time as possible exploring the castle. They had become so proficient that they were sure that only Filch knew the castle better than they did or perhaps Dumbledore as he simply had been around for too long. Surprisingly they had still to be caught wandering the corridors by a Professor, a Prefect the Head students anybody. Peeves surprisingly knew a bit about magic too and many a times helped Ron and Harry with their essays, especially their History essays. It resulted in infuriating Hermione as Ron and Harry generally slept through History class yet ended up getting excellent marks in the assigned essays the only subject where their homework grades were better than that of Hermione.

Harry had really started to like Chucky and the house-elves. Sometimes their eagerness to serve had Harry questioning whether they were under some kind of spell or something. He had even asked Chucky about it. Chucky had blown that question away.

"Scarhead we is not humans, we is house-elves. We like to work." Seeing that Harry was not convinced, she put it another way. "Scarhead will you say that dogs are spelled only because they is sleeping on the floor and guarding humans? Dogs are dogs and house-elves will be house-elves."

Harry still wasn't completely convinced but he never asked that question again as the house-elves seemed to be insulted if asked something of that sort. Ron probably enjoyed the company of the house-elves the most. He never missed an opportunity to make a detour to the kitchens and have a quick bite. The elves seemed to love him for that as he savored every morsel of food that hey ever offered.

In the extremely hectic months that Harry had, he had given very little thought to his godfather and his guardian. He still couldn't understand the logic behind the information on werewolves in the books. If they turned into a werewolf only on a full-moon why were they considered to be blood-thirsty monsters for the remaining time? Perhaps there was some residual effect from the transformation. He had almost given up on his godfather. He had often wondered how his parents knew the two but everytime he subtly tried to turn a conversation with Hagrid towards his parents' friends; Hagrid rather unsubtly turned the topic away from it. After the first month Harry had literally given up knowing anything more about them unless something changed drastically.

One thing…..one girl Harry could simply not forget was Ginny. Many times he caught himself thinking about her and wondering how she would be. How could he get to know her better, would she accept him as a friend hopefully more……but generally he was shaken out of that reverie by Ron making Harry wonder whether it was supposed to be a clue or something from Fate herself.

Both Ron and Harry could hardly wait for the Halloween feast in the evening as the twins were going on and on about how it always is an affair to remember. As was the trend, they were partnered in Charms where they were learning the levitation charm. 'Wingardium Leviosa'. As usual, Harry managed to operationally perform the charm within the first fifteen minutes of the class and he spent the next quarter of an hour trying to help Ron perform the charm correctly. Ron did need a bit more effort but eventually he got the Charm just right. After which the two tried to simultaneously lift more than one feather. They also discovered that after levitating the feathers they could move them horizontally back and forth and thus began their feather-fight.

Needless to say it captivated the interest of the entire class most of who were yet to levitate their feathers. Finally Harry was the first one to lose control over his feather and it fell down. The class applauded as Ron took a mock bow as the winner of the feather-fight. Professor Flitwick was actually pleased with the two rather than being irritated and awarded Gryffindor 10-points for their achievements.

The only person who wasn't pleased with the entire thing was Hermione. "You shouldn't be doing such things in class you know."

Harry and Ron could only come up with an "Er doing what?"

"Well you shouldn't be fooling around during a lesson. It distracts others and it only shows up your arrogance and bigheaded-ness. Just because you have achieved the objective for the class does not mean you need to amuse yourself and thereby diverting everyone else's attention. It is not conducive for public education."

Harry was actually mildly amused by Hermione's outburst. He had a feeling that Hermione was feeling a bit insecure than anything else. She probably was used to being a topper in school before coming to Hogwarts and was feeling threatened. Of course her insistence on sticking-up for rules did not help at all.

Ron on the other hand was on the verge of losing his patience and really temper. It finally cracked. "Shut up, you know-it-all. Who do you think you are? No Wonder you have no friends. What do……?" But Ron never completed that sentence as Hermione slapped him hard on the face, lifted her bag and ran out leaving behind a stunned class-room.

"I think she has been called 'A know-it-all' too many times, Ron. It was like pressing her ignition button."

"The what button?"

Never mind, lets go to the lunch now. Though I think you should apologize to her. Not that she was completely faultless but I think you crossed the line there."

Ron thought over it for a moment and simply nodded.

Hermione wasn't at lunch nor was she at the afternoon class. Ron and Harry heard that she was crying in a girls' bathroom near the dungeons. Ron was feeling really guilty now but there was nothing that he could do about it right now. Hermione was still not there at the feast but she was driven right out of their minds on seeing the Great Hall decked up in a Halloween theme. The feast was wonderful and they had just begun when Professor Quirrel burst through the doors.

"Troll loose in the dungeons, troll loose in the dungeons." He had barely finished saying that when he fainted. The Great Hall was silent for a moment and then pandemonium broke out but this time fire-crackers from Professor Dumbledore's wand did indeed calm the students down.

"Please do not panic. Prefects please lead away the students to the respective Common rooms while the Professors and I deal with the troll. I can assure you that this is much less serious than the 'non-prank' so do not be afraid. Kindly do not panic and maintain order." Dumbledore finished with a smile, a smile which was most certainly not reflected on the faces of the other Professors. However it did manage to calm the students down considerably.

"C'mon Harry Percy is leading the Gryffindors away. We got to go."

But Harry was not moving. "I feel like I am forgetting something. 'Troll in the dungeons'"

"SHIT!" Ron and Harry both realized at the same time. "Hermione."

Without thinking of anything they both started racing towards the dungeons. Out of the corner of the eye Harry saw Snape run for the stairs, stairs which surely didn't lead to the dungeons. What more Harry was sure that Snape saw them but made no effort to stop them. They had almost reached the girl's toilet near dungeon entrance when they heard a girl scream. They had barely entered the toilet when a very foul stench hit their noses. Simply ignoring it they entered the toilet only to see the troll standing over Hermione who was too shocked to move. There were debris lying all around the toilet.

"You distract the troll and I will get Hermione out of there." Ron sped away before Harry could argue.

"Rictumsempra" Harry dashed of the first spell that came to his mind. It had absolutely no effect on the thick troll skin. The troll was now very close to both Hermione and Ron who had managed to reach next to Hermione but was having trouble getting her away as she was refusing to move from the corner. Harry was getting frantic now, he knew that if he didn't do something quickly both Ron and Hermione would either be history or at least seriously injured. Out of sheer desperateness, he picked up a broken pipe lying on the floor and flung it at the troll.

The pipe didn't cause the troll any damage but it certainly did notice the pipe and it turned around. It saw Harry and opened his mouth to give what sounded as an elongated grunt. For a mad moment Harry wondered if the troll was going to eat him. Then he noticed the troll's open mouth and the tender skin inside the mouth and instinctively he shot the tickling curse inside the troll's mouth.

This time the spell worked perfectly. Never having known the sensation of tickling the troll got confused and became enraged. He dropped his huge club and put his hands inside his mouth trying to swipe away whatever that was inside his mouth.

Ron took the opportunity to drag Hermione towards Harry. To get out of the door they still had to cross the troll who had somehow managed to get himself in front of the door. Before they could even think of what to do next the tickling spell wore off. The troll opened his mouth to grunt again and Harry shot another tickling spell at his mouth. But this time Harry's aim was off-target and the troll managed to lift up the club and he had them almost cornered.

Harry heard Ron scream out "Wingardium Leviosa." And the club in the troll's hand started rising, after Ron had it high enough he simply dropped it on the troll's head and it hit the troll's head with a resounding crack.

Harry sat down on the ground and Ron followed suit. Hermione was still too shocked to say anything. She simply kept staring at the troll and back at Ron and Harry. Harry heard sounds of people of running and guessed that it wouldn't be long before the Professors turned up.

"I wonder what the troll wanted to do in a girls' toilet. Thank heavens you knocked it out Ron. I had completely run out of ideas and I certainly didn't want to die in a Girls' bathroom, I think that would have looked really little bad on my resume."

There was a moment of silence and then both Ron and Harry burst out laughing and were soon rolling on the floor laughing their guts out. Harry even saw Hermione crack a small smile.

It was like this that Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore, Snape and Quirrel saw the three. Ron and Harry were laughing and rolling on the ground and Hermione standing over them with a smile on her face and a troll either knocked out or perhaps dead mere feet away from them.

It was Professor McGonagall who spoke up first. "Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter and Miss Granger would one of you kindly explain what happened here and Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley stop laughing and please stand up."

Harry tried to stop laughing but could only stop from laughing out loudly, his face still was full of mirth and he was still on the floor. Ron however seemed to have a lot of practice at suddenly stopping his laughter. He had not only stopped laughing but was also standing up. For the first time Harry saw only Professor McGonagall and Snape in the toilet, girls' toilet and he couldn't help it.

"Professor Snape you are inside a girls' toilet." The simple statement set Ron off again and Harry too was soon rolling on the floor.

"Mr. Potter that is enough, stop laughing and stand up." This time Professor McGonagall's tone left no room for anything.

Harry stood up and for the first time noticed Quirrel and Professor Dumbledore along with Professor McGonagall and a very red Snape. Though he couldn't tell whether it was out of anger or embarrassment.

"Mr. Potter can I get an answer now, without any wisecracks please." Professor McGonagall ordered. Even as Harry was wondering what exactly was he going to tell the Professors a small voice spoke up.

"Please Professor, it is not their mistake. They were looking for me. I thought that I could handle a troll because I read so much about………."

"Oh please stop lying Hermione." It was Ron who had interrupted her. "It was my mistake actually. I had called Hermione a know……I had insulted her during Professor Flitwick's class and she was really hurt by it and hence she was in the toilet and not at the feast. We had heard from a girl that she was in the toilet by dungeons and then Harry realized that she wouldn't know about the troll so we……"

"So we tried to tell a prefect or a professor but no one was left in the Hall." Harry cut in hoping to cover some loose ends which had just presented themselves. "So we simply came here to get her, but the troll was already in the toilet and had cornered Hermione. Ron went to get her and I tried to distract the troll. Then I shot a tickling charm at the troll that distracted him and Ron got Hermione out of the corner but the troll probably overcame the tickling charm and tried to attack us with the club. So Ron levitated the club and dropped it on the troll knocking it out cold."

Harry had told the entire truth…..almost. They had not looked around for any professors and really that thought had simply not occurred to them. He looked around Professor McGonagall looked thoughtful, Quirrel still looked terrified, Snape looked as if he was concentrating on him. Concentrating on him. Immediately Harry looked away, turned around and started observing the troll with great interest and hoped that Ron would take the hint. Miraculously Ron too turned around as he actually wanted to look at the troll.

A moment later Professor Dumbledore's voice interrupted their observations. "Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger and Harry," Harry noted the use of his first name but said nothing. "Not many first years could have managed to get away safely from a fully grown mountain troll let alone win against one. You did very well and acted within the best traditions of your House. However you should not have gone ahead alone. You should have waited for a Professor but I can hardly fault you after saving Miss Granger. Twenty Five points to Gryffindor." Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "However Harry I do have one small doubt. How did you manage to use the tickling spell on the troll's skin?"

"I didn't, the spell kept bouncing off his skin. He opened his mouth and I just aimed it in his mouth."

"Well done Harry. Well do move onto your Common Room, the other students are finishing the feast there."

Ron, Hermione and Harry took one last look at the troll and started going towards the common room.

Back in the toilet Quirrel had just left the toilet leaving behind Professor McGonagall, Snape and Professor Dumbledore. "Do you believe the story Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I don't think that they looked around for any Professors but the rest of the story did seem to be true." He paused and it looked like he was thinking over something. "Severus did Harry complete his detentions?"

"What do you mean?" Snape asked back.

Dumbledore let out a sigh. "You used more than passive legilimency on him didn't you?"

It was McGonagall who continued. "Severus, tell me you didn't. That was highly unethical, immoral, irresponsible and not to mention illegal."

"I wasn't planning to. He can somehow know when he is being passively probed, he can't stop it but he can tell that someone is trying to probe him. He was cheating at his detentions; he finished cleaning 4-5 cauldrons within forty minutes not to mention his continuous insults. I had my wand in hand and it just happened. I wasn't even trying actually. He actually managed to throw me out and break into my memories. One moment I was seeing the face of a young girl and the next I was watching my own memories. He ran off from that detention and came a day later and told me that he would not be continuing the detentions any longer."

Albus Dumbledore was thoughtful very thoughtful. He tried to ignore his deputy and Potions Master arguing their guts out. He was very interested in young Harry Potter. He believed that Harry was indeed going to be their saviour. Harry came across as a confident, fun-loving, intelligent, instinctive yet responsible young boy. Adjectives that could never be used together to describe an 11 year old boy, yet they were. He was quite surprised that Harry was a confident boy. He was afraid that he had doomed his childhood when he gave over Harry to the Dursleys. But his safety was of paramount importance.

Then there were the mysteries associated with Harry. He was fairly certain that Harry had found the kitchens. He had not been at the table for almost four days for any meals before the infamous 'non-prank'. Not a single Gryffindor had carried out food from the table even once not even a tiny toast. But the house-elves insisted that no Harry Potter had ever visited the kitchens and house-elves do not lie. Then there was the entire mystery-letter. He refused to believe that Harry would lose his vault key and that the Weasleys and Harry would be so nervous about that.

Now Severus had given him an even bigger mystery to solve. That Harry knew about Severus' legilimency was evidently clear. He also knew that eye-contact was necessary for that as he had very obviously tried to avoid Snape's eyes. Who was the girl which made Harry perhaps accidentally throw Snape out of his mind? She had to be muggle as Severus had not recognized her and Severus rarely forgot a face. That would be a complication; he would need to talk to Harry about the girl before he went back for the summer. But how did he know about legilimency. Of course the letter!

"Minerva, from whom did Harry receive the letter on that day?" That day was a term often used by the professors to describe the comically disastrous day.

"Bill Weasley. He works at Gringotts as a curse breaker now I believe."

"That's how he knows so much about legilimency." Dumbledore exclaimed triumphantly.

"What do mean he knows about Legilimency?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Well he knows that you need eye contact for starters. He was continuously avoiding any eye contact with Severus today. He has to know that even passive legilimency is illegal or he would not have taken a chance with skiving off those detentions. He is simply one smart boy."

Snape looked as if he was insulted, simply because Harry had been called intelligent. Professor McGonagall looked disturbed. "If he knew about it, why didn't he come to me?"

"He probably thought that you would not believe him without any concrete proof." McGonagall didn't look convinced nor happy. Dumbledore continued on. "Though I believe you should talk with the Weasley twins. If you remember they were with Harry when he received the letter. I dare say that they would probably already be learning some defence against Legilimency or given their history some offence."

For the first time in many years Snape and McGonagall did something in unison. They groaned together.

Meanwhile the Gryffindor trio was walking back silently to the Common Room. Finally Hermione broke the long silence.

"I need to thank the two of you. I would probably have been dead without the two of you. I also need to apologize"

"Don't sweat over it. You wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for…..Well I am sorry too." Ron finished.

"Good now can we all be friends please." Harry decided to throw in his wise words as well.

Hermione and Ron nodded and the three went off to get plates to finish the feast. From that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and owing ones life to each other is one of them.


	8. The Jump and Flamel

As they entered November, the weather turned chilly. The mountains around the school became icy gray and the lake looked like chilled steel. Every morning the ground was covered in frost. Hagrid could be seen from the upstairs windows defrosting broomsticks on the Quidditch field, bundled up in a long moleskin overcoat, rabbit fur gloves, and enormous beaver skin boots.

The Quidditch season had arrived. Harry would be playing his first ever match on Saturday. Unbelievably the fact that Harry was Gryffindor's seeker had remained a complete secret. Wood had gone to great length to ensure that no-one came to know about it. He frequently changed the schedules of practices and re-scheduled them at crazy times. For two weeks preceding the match the Gryffindor Quidditch team was practicing at 6:00am in the morning in bare minimum light and freezing temperatures. But surprisingly not even the twins complained about it. Then Harry would actually fly into the common room through a large window at the top of the Gryffindor tower. Almost all of the Gryffindors knew who the seeker was but an uncompromising warning from the twins about certain retribution if the secret broke out had driven away any thoughts about leaking the news.

Harry and Wood were afraid that the staff would know about his being the seeker and would leak it out. But Professor McGonagall assured them that only Professor Flitwick, Professor Dumbledore and she knew about it and they would be keeping quiet. Harry thanked his stars that Snape didn't know about it or the entire school would have known within the next few minutes.

Harry was really glad that Hermione was their friend now. It was only because of her insistence that Ron and Harry finished their homework before going on their jaunts with Peeves. Hermione had slacked a lot about rule-breaking after the troll incident but she still couldn't digest breaking curfew and exploring the castle for the sake of it. She did go with them to the kitchens though and was fascinated yet a bit afraid of the house-elves. Luckily she didn't talk too much with them, almost as if she was afraid of them. Harry had a feeling that the 'principled' girl would be scandalized on learning everything about the house-elves. If Hermione looked afraid of the elves she was clearly terrified of Peeves, nor was Peeves too fond of Hermione and after a couple of attempts, both Ron and Harry gave up on them.

Hermione was all ears as Harry told her about his doubts about what was in the trapdoor in the three-headed dog's chamber. She didn't outright refuse to believe it but she clearly had her reservations. Also as he had expected she outright refused to believe that Snape had tried something illegal on Harry. But she did agree to help them find a book on Occlumency as the twins still had no success at all.

On the evening before the match the trio had gone to the kitchens for hot chocolate and Ron of course had a snack as well. They were returning back to the Gryffindor tower when they saw a visibly enraged Snape climbing down the stairs with a limp and a few drops of blood were scattered in his wake. He was cursing. The three automatically pressed themselves into the shadows. Suddenly Harry heard two words from the string of curses that Snape was spewing out, "Bloody Dog!"

Harry froze and suddenly a memory came back to him. The image of Snape climbing up the stairs when he was supposed to be heading towards the dungeons on Halloween. And right now Snape had just climbed down from the third floor corridor. The dog had bit him. Snape had tried to get past the dog. Snape was trying to steal that grubby package from the vault. His thoughts were interrupted by Snape's snarl.

"What are you doing outside the common room, Potter?"

"Walking and talking sir, it is not illegal unlike other things." The barb at his legilimency was not missed by Snape whose eyes flashed dangerously. Harry pushed on hoping to confirm his hypothesis about Snape. "What happened to your leg, Sir? Did something bite it?"

Snape who had been looking at Hermione turned his head towards Harry so quickly that he was sure that it had snapped. If possible his eyes flashed even more and his face had turned red with anger. "What do mean Potter?"

"Well Sir you are clearly injured your leg and it looks like some animal has bit it. So I simply asked you." Harry took great pains to avoid Snape's eyes continuosly.

"Get out of here Potter." Snape coldly ordered.

The three didn't need another invitation as they raced away from Snape. They were a couple of corridors away from the Gryffindor tower when they stopped to catch their breath. It was Ron who broke the silence.

"What was all that about Harry?"

"Snape tried to get past the three-headed dog. That is how he got that injury. I think he is trying to steal whatever is below that trapdoor." Harry tried to ignore Hermione's grunt of protest as he continued. "Remember on Halloween when all the Professors were heading towards the dungeons, Snape was climbing up the stairs. I think he let in the troll as a diversion. Did you look at his face when I asked him whether a dog bit him?"

Ron ever ready to crucify Snape nodded immediately. Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment and then she nodded as well. "Do you think we should tell someone?"

Ron gave a small laugh. "For a bloody intelligent girl you do sometimes ask dumb questions Hermione. We are not even supposed to know about the damned dog, leave alone the fact that it is guarding something and the fact that Snape is going after it."

"Everything is too circumstantial Hermione. For all we know Snape might have been there on Dumbledore's orders. On Halloween he might simply be going upstairs to get a weapon. There is nothing concrete against him. Then there is the fact that I hate him." Harry finished the analysis. Hermione simply nodded at that.

Harry could barely sleep a wink that night. The moment he had walked into the common-room all thoughts of Snape had been driven away. Wood ordered the entire team to sleep early that night. It took Harry half an hour to reach his dormitory. It seemed that practically the entire house wanted to wish him luck. He received enough back-slaps to last him a lifetime. He stopped listening to the wishes after the first five minutes. Though he did get the gist of all the wishes, "We have done a lot to keep you a secret, you better win tomorrow or else……"

Harry woke up very early in the morning. He got out his Nimbus 2000 and polished it using Wood's broom servicing kit. He got into his Quidditch robes and went the common room to find the entire Quidditch team sitting with stony faces. The twins were cracking joke, rather trying to crack jokes but no one was laughing. At 8:30am when the common room started filling in, Harry jumped onto his broom and flew out of the tower window to resounding cheers. Wood still didn't want anyone to know who their seeker was. Harry thought that it was lucky that he could fly in and out of the window. The twins had tried it but almost fell down, nobody had tried it after that.

Harry landed on the pitch and went directly into the Gryffindor locker rooms. He tried to calm himself but it wasn't working. Half an hour before the match was to begin the rest of the team turned up. All looking very nervous and edgy. Nobody was saying a thing. The twins were resting their backs on the lockers quietly, Katie, Angelina and Alicia were sitting on the benches. Wood however was pacing like a caged tiger. Five minutes later Harry heard the monumental sounds of what sounded like the entire school pouring into the stands.

With ten minutes to go for the match's start Wood stopped his pacing and decided to address the team. "All right boys." He began only to be interrupted by Angelina "and girls."

"And girls;" conceded Wood. "This is the one we have been waiting for. We have trained hard for this. We have trained before sunrise in freezing temperatures. We have practiced with three bludgers and have had our asses kicked by them, but for more than three weeks no bludger has managed to surprise us. We have three chasers who are simply brilliant, we have the twins who are a pair of flying bludgers themselves. No one knows who our seeker is and we all know that he can bloody fly. Lets go and win this one!!"

The team finished with a loud cheer and moved towards the tunnel that lead to the pitch. Harry's nervousness which had disappeared for a few minutes during Wood's speech returned with full force. The Slytherin team was the first one to go onto the pitch and Harry heard Lee Jordan a friend of the twins announcing them but he hardly paid attention to the names. But he did catch Lee's next announcement.

"Ladies and Gentlemen before I present the Gryffindor Quidditch team let me clarify one small rule. First Years are not allowed to get their own brooms however there is no rule that bars First Years from appearing in the Quidditch team. Now let me present the Gryffindor Quidditch team the chasers Johnson, Bell and Spinnet all brilliant chasers and pretty too."

"Jordan get back to the game." Professor McGonagall interrupted.

"The two beaters Weasley and Weasley, and the keeper extraordinaire and the Captain Wood. No ladies and gentlemen let me introduce the youngest seeker to play for Gryffindor in over a hundred years, Harry James Potter."

Harry ran onto the field to wild applause from the Gryffindor side of the stands and stunned silence from the remaining school. The Hufflepuffs seemed to have recovered first and started politely applauding followed closely by the Ravenclaws. The Slytherins were gobsmacked and it took them almost half a minute to start booing, but Harry was already feeling at home by then. He heard Madame Hooch ask the Captains to shake hands and play a clean game and then she blew the whistle.

Harry was off into the air in an instant and with his Nimbus 2000 he was the fastest on the field. He flew high into the air and immediately started looking for the snitch. It was part of Wood's strategy to stay away from the action and look for the snitch. Harry had completely tuned out of the commentary as he concentrated on the snitch. He tried to keep an eye on the score but only Gryffindor had scored a goal so far. Half an hour into the game Gryffindor were ahead by 60-points and Slytherin had managed to score only once. The bludger training seemed to have worked as the chasers seemed to have almost a sixth sense about the bludgers and managed to avoid them quite easily.

"Slytherin in possession," Lee Jordan was saying, "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the -- wait a moment -- was that the Snitch?"

A murmur ran through the crowd as Adrian Pucey dropped the Quaffle, too busy looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that had passed his left ear.

Harry saw it. In a great rush of excitement he dived downward after the streak of gold. Slytherin Seeker Terence Higgs had seen it, too. Neck and neck they hurtled toward the Snitch -all the Chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing as they hung in midair to watch.

Harry was faster than Higgs -- he could see the little round ball, wings fluttering, darting up ahead - - he put on an extra spurt of speed -- WHAM! A roar of rage echoed from the Gryffindors below -- Marcus Flint had blocked Harry on purpose, and Harry's broom spun off course, Harry holding on for dear life.

"Foul!" screamed the Gryffindors.

Madam Hooch spoke angrily to Flint and then ordered a free shot at the goal posts for Gryffindor. But in all the confusion, of course, the Golden Snitch had disappeared from sight again.

Harry gathered himself and was up and flying under control in no time. He heard Jordan curse Flint and unsurprisingly McGonagall reprimanding Jordan for that. Harry started concentrating again and was just passing the Professor's stand when his broom gave a sudden lurch. For a split second, he thought he was going to fall. He gripped the broom tightly with both his hands and knees. He'd never felt anything like that. It happened again. It was as though the broom was trying to buck him off. But Nimbus Two Thousands did not suddenly decide to buck their riders off. Harry tried to turn back toward the Gryffindor goal- posts-- he had half a mind to ask Wood to call time-out -- and then he realized that his broom was completely out of his control. He couldn't turn it. He couldn't direct it at all. It was zigzagging through the air, and every now and then making violent swishing movements that almost unseated him.

Lee was still commentating.

"Slytherin in possession -- Flint with the Quaffle -- passes Spinnet -- passes Bell -- hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose -- only joking, Professor -- Slytherins score -- A no... The Slytherins were cheering. No one seemed to have noticed that Harry's broom was behaving strangely. It was carrying- him slowly higher, away from the game, jerking and twitching as it went.

Harry knew that something was wrong, very wrong. The twins tried to come up to him and get him off the broom but every time they came closer the broom jerked away even further. They finally fell back hoping to catch Harry if he did fall down.

Harry was in full panic mode. He knew if the broom continued to lurch he would fall down. The broom had been lurching for a full five minutes when Harry suddenly saw the golden snitch right in front of him. He knew that if removed a hand from the broom he would fall down. So he did the only logical thing that he could think of. He jerked his broom as hard as he could towards the snitch and literally snapped at the snitch with his mouth. For a dreadful moment Harry thought that he was going to swallow the snitch whole but luckily he gagged at the right moment and the snitch came to be safely lodged in his mouth.

It was apparent to Harry that no one had noticed his catch. Great he thought, his first ever snitch and no one even notices it. Meanwhile the broom kept on buckling wildly. He was pretty sure that someone was doing this to him and the broom hadn't just gone crazy. He looked down and saw that the crazy movement of the broom had got him over one of the stands. He was still quite high above the ground but not that high from the stand. It still was at least 10metres down to the stand. Simply hoping for the best and knowing that this was probably going to go down as one of his worst decisions ever and maybe even the last one, Harry jumped off the broom.

The entire stadium took in a sharp breath. It was quite obvious to everyone that Harry had not been thrown off the broom but had jumped off it quite voluntarily to what seemed to be certain death. For one second a lot of hearts stopped beating and then there was a loud crash as Harry landed…..fell into a row of empty benches high up in the Hufflepuff stand.

It was dead quiet in the stadium. Even Lee had stopped commenting. The Quidditch stadium had never been so quiet; you could have heard a pin drop in the stadium. Everyone was still rooted to their spot, everyone wondering what had happened to Harry. Then everyone heard a groan, a loud groan. Harry got up from the wooden mess raised his hand to the mouth and spat out the snitch and held it out to the entire stadium.

Another quiet moment and then an uproar of cheers went up in the stadium. Suddenly the Gryffindors realized that they had won the match and they eclipsed the earlier uproar comfortably.

Harry looked at himself and was surprised that he was still standing. Gingerly he took a step and realized that he couldn't do that without experiencing great pain. He simply sat down from at that spot and a moment later the Gryffindor team landed next to him with wide smiles on their faces, smiles mingled with horror. The rest of the house wasn't far behind and had started climbing up the Hufflepuff stand. The twins were the first ones to reach him.

"Little Harrikins can you do anything….." They were interrupted by Harry.

"One of you get off the broom. I think my leg is fractured ,the take off might be a bit painful but I can fly. I will get to the infirmary; it will be chaos after the rest of the house arrives. And tell Ron and Hermione to meet me at Hagrid's."

The twins looked doubtful but an ecstatic Wood wasted no time. "Here take the broom and get to the infirmary. Brilliant catch by the way. We will get your broom."

Harry took Wood's broom in his hand and in one fluid motion he was onto it and back into the air. The push off had indeed been painful but he had managed it. Another roar went off in the stands as Harry pushed off into the air. Lee also finally seemed to have found his voice back and was saying something. But Harry had left the Quidditch field and was speeding towards the castle. There were a lot of questions swirling in his mind. What had happened with his broom? Was it an accident or man-made, if man-made who did it and why? Those thoughts were interrupted as he could just make out the infirmary window in front of him.

Spotting an open window, he went in through it only to be greeted by a loud scream.

"Mr. Potter what in Merlin's name are you doing flying into the infirmary and why are you covered in so many bruises? Quidditch robes…..don't answer that. Now would you mind stopping that flying around and get down?" Madame Pomfrey said in a part serious, part disgusted and part humorous manner. This was the part that Harry was really dreading. He didn't think that the pain on landing would be too kind. Gathering all his Gryffindor courage Harry landed on a bed.

"Mr. Potter, you could have walked in. Instead of this….."

"I think I have a broken leg Madame."

"All right lie still while I run a diagnostic spell." She poked him with her wand. "Well you only have a couple of hair-line fractures in the lower limbs on both sides. Bruises almost all over the body. What exactly happened to you?"

"Nothing, just a bad landing, Mam simply stupid."

"Learn to lie properly Mr. Potter." Madame Pomfrey advised Harry. "I have seen Quidditch injuries for a long time. Now lie still for a moments. I will do the corrective spell." Madame Pomfrey did the corrective spell and Harry felt the pain numb away immediately. "Well that has done the job I should think, you will have to keep the feet off the ground for another 15 minutes. I will get you an apron and the salve for the bruises. I would like you to spend the night in the Hospital Wing. Don't move now."

Harry nodded at that but he had absolutely no intention of staying in the Hospital Wing. There were too many questions which needed answers. Answers for which he didn't want to wait. He had been in the infirmary for barely 7-8 minutes. The rest of the school would reach there in a few minutes. Deciding that the bruises could wait, Harry stepped down from the bed and grabbed the broom. There still was a dull thud of pain in the legs but Harry didn't think that he had damaged them again. Proceeding for the open window Harry mounted the broom and jumped out of the window. He knew that neither Madame Pomfrey nor Professor McGonagall was not going to be happy that couldn't be helped.

Harry climbed into the air and circled the grounds for a few minutes. The Quidditch pitch looked completely empty now and most of the students were headed into the castle for a late lunch. Harry flew towards Hagrid's house and landed in the soft vegetable patch. He took a step gingerly but the pain was now even the dull thud was almost gone. As he approached the door the booming barks of Fang welcomed him. Ron, Hermione and Hagrid were seated at the gigantic table sipping tea.

Hermione was the first one who spotted him. She ran up to Harry and hugged him. To say that Harry was surprised was an understatement. No one in his memory had hugged him. He uncomfortably returned the hug and after a few moments Hermione stepped back and sat down again with tears in her eyes. She had obviously been crying.

"You shouldn't have jumped Harry, the curse would have stopped fifteen seconds after you jumped off." Hermione said rather emotionally.

"What do you mean? Do you know who did it? Have you told anyone?"

"Hermione thinks, Snape was doing it….." Ron began to explain but Hagrid cut in.

"I have told ye before, Snape is a Hogwarts professor he will never harm a student."

"I am telling you Hagrid, I saw it Snape was maintaining continues eye contact with Harry's broom and I am sure that he was muttering. I have read it, you need continuous eye contact for cursing an object." Hermione explained.

"Hold on everyone." Harry interrupted. "You said that Snape was maintaining eye contact throughout?" Hermione nodded. Harry thought over it for a moment. "What do you mean it would have stopped a few seconds later?"

Hermione actually looked embarrassed. "I was running towards the professors' stand. I was going to distract Snape. If he would have lost eye-contact the curse would have stopped. But before I could reach there you jumped off into the stands."

"Once again Snape seems to be involved but we can't prove that for sure. We tell McGonagall she will eat us inside out. Snape is one hell of a slippery customer. If I had not jumped and if the broom had stopped buckling around after Snape had been taken out we could have said something. But as of now we have nothing again." Harry summarized.

"Why would, Snape want to attack ye Harry?" Hagrid asked. "He has no motive to do that."

"Yes, he does. Harry knows that Snape tried to get past the three-headed dog yesterday. That's how he…." Ron spoke up without thinking. Hagrid dropped the cup that he was holding.

"How do you know about Fluffy?"

"He's yours and you have named it Fluffy Hagrid?" Hermione asked clearly scandalized.

Hagrid started to reply but Harry went in for the kill. "It is protecting that package from Gringotts isn't it? What was that package? Snape is trying to steal it Hagrid you have to believe us. Who else is protecting it?"

Everyone was silent for a few moments. Hagrid clearly seemed to be going over something. "All the Professors are protecting it Harry. Ye are wrong, Snape is not trying to steal it nor is he trying to kill ye. Whatever is in that package is between Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel."

Harry almost smiled. They had another name to work with. For the rest of the time they didn't discuss Snape but discussed the actual match and how Harry had caught the Snitch with his mouth. Late afternoon the trio started their trek back to the castle. Harry's leg was completely fine by then; the bruises were a different story. They were now sore and hurting him a bit. But he ignored them, there was simply too much on his mind. Hermione had played the role of a model researcher to perfection. She was going on and on about how they would have to plan their way through to find who Flamel was. Harry had tuned out of it after the first time but Ron was intently hanging on to every word.

The trio had an early dinner in the kitchens and then they went up to a mercifully empty tower. Hermione went to the library to start her research while Harry simply wanted to sleep. Ron accompanied Harry up to the dormitory.

"You really think that Snape is trying to kill you or maybe even us?" Ron asked.

"All the evidence or circumstantial evidence does point to him. He has a goddamned motive too."

"Is there a 'but' in there somewhere Harry?"

"It's a bit too obvious Ron. Maybe he is being set up or maybe he is making it look very obvious to make it look very obvious. It's confusing. But the fact remains that someone most certainly tried to kill me out there today and Snape happens to be the primary suspect here. There is also almost no doubt that Snape try to get past the dog; with or without Dumbledore's consent we have no idea." Harry was silent for a moment. "There's no point thinking over it unless we find out who Flamel is. Good Night, see you tomorrow."

The next morning was a Sunday and Harry had slept for over almost 14 hours waking up at 9:00am to find the dormitory empty and a note from Professor McGonagall. Half an hour later Harry presented himself in Professor McGonagall's office who wasn't alone. Madame Pomfrey was also present.

"Ah, Mr. Potter how are you doing today?" It was Madame Pomfrey who began the 'proceedings.'

"Just fine Mam, am feeling refreshed and raring to…." Harry tried to answer but trailed off under two stern gazes.

"Mr. Potter why and where exactly did you disappear from the infirmary last afternoon after clearly contradicting orders?"

"I was hungry and my broom was also missing so I went to search my broom but I didn't find it and then I had lunch with Hagrid." Harry replied.

"Learn to lie properly Harry, now get undressed." Ordered Madame Pomfrey with a small smile playing on her face.

"Er….undress Mam?"

"You ran away from the infirmary but I am not in the habit of ignoring my duties. Remove your robe that should suffice for now." She finished with a smile. She poked him numerous times and did innumerable diagnostic spells and then finally pronounced him fit.

"Well, Harry the sleep does seem to have helped you a lot. I can find nothing wrong with you. Though do tell me how exactly did you mange to get out of the infirmary yesterday?"

"Er….I jumped out of the window and then flew to Hagrid's." Madame Pomfrey left muttering something about crazy brooms and crazy students leaving Harry alone with Professor McGonagall. She asked Harry about the broom's behaviour but offered no explanation except that the Headmaster had been informed. Harry had a feeling that she knew something more about the whole issue yet was not telling him. But then Harry thought he knew a bit about the incident too but he wasn't sharing anything either. She also returned Harry's broom back telling him that it was perfectly safe and also congratulating him on the catch.

"Harry just do me one favour next time you decide to do something foolish like disappearing from the infirmary, kindly leave a note behind." Harry could only smile at that and he left for a late breakfast….again.

The days after the match were interesting to say the least. The Gryffindors were all impressed how Harry had managed to keep a hold onto the broom and to top it off catch the snitch. Most of the Slytherins were completely quiet. They couldn't really fault Harry without looking stupid. That didn't stop Malfoy from trying though he did stop…..only after a dozen failed attempts.

Hermione was slave-driving them in the library over finding Flamel. Unfortunately Ron and Harry couldn't even complain as she spent twice as much time in the library as they did. But they had absolutely no luck. Harry often wondered if the answer lay in the Restricted Section but that really was restricted. They wondered if they could simply ask a professor perhaps but Hermione shot that down reminding them Hagrid had told them that most of the Professors were involved in the scheme. Finally it was time for the term to end.

Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrel around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.

No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.

"I do feel so sorry," said Draco Malfoy, one Potions class, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."

Harry kept his head down. Snape was probably looking for an opportunity to take away points from Gryffindor. Anyways spending Christmas at Hogwarts was a much better option then spending it at the Dursleys. The Weasleys were going to be saying at Hogwarts too as their parents were to visit Romania. Harry had a feeling that this was going to be his best Christmas ever.

The Christmas vacations began and Harry and the Weasleys were the only ones left in the Gryffindor tower. Hermione had gone back so Ron and Harry could hook up with Peeves to roam the castle at anytime without having to get it cleared from Hermione first. Harry often wondered why in the world did they listen to Hermione but then a lot of things she ordered had a resonance of logic and reason to it which they couldn't always brush aside.

On Christmas morning Harry was woken up by Ron throwing a pillow on his face. "Get up Harry, it Christmas. Merry Christmas."

Harry woke up and the first thing that he saw was a pile of presents at the foot of his bed.

"You, too," said Harry. "Will you look at this? I've got some presents!"

"What did you expect, turnips?" said Ron, turning to his own pile, which was a lot bigger than Harry's. Harry picked up the top parcel. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Harry, from Hagrid. Inside was a roughly cut wooden flute. Hagrid had obviously whittled it himself. Harry blew it -- it sounded a bit like an owl. A second, very small parcel contained a note. We received your message and enclose your Christmas present. From Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Taped to the note was a fifty-penny piece.

"That's friendly," said Harry.

Ron was fascinated by the fifty pence. "Weird!" he said, 'What a shape! This is money?"

"You can keep it," said Harry, laughing at how pleased Ron was. "Hagrid and my aunt and uncle -- so who sent these?"

"I think I know who that one's from," said Ron, turning a bit pink and pointing to a very lumpy parcel. "My mom. I told her you didn't expect any presents and -- oh, no," he groaned, "she's made you a Weasley sweater."

Harry had torn open the parcel to find a thick, hand-knitted sweater in emerald green and a large box of homemade fudge.

"Every year she makes us a sweater," said Ron, unwrapping his own, "and mine's always maroon."

"That's really nice of her," said Harry, trying the fudge, which was very tasty. For some reason he felt a huge debt of gratitude towards Ron's mother and he immediately pulled on the sweater. It was the first article of clothing besides the robes which was if his size. It was warm and comfortable, almost order made for him.

"How did she know my size Ron?"

"I think the twins measured the size of your Quidditch robes after a practice."

His next present also contained candy -- a large box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione. This only left one parcel. Harry picked it up and felt it. It was very light. He unwrapped it. Something fluid and silvery gray went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds. Ron gasped.

"I've heard of those," he said in a hushed voice, dropping the box of Every Flavor Beans he'd gotten from Hermione. "If that's what I think it is -- they're really rare, and really valuable."

"What is it?" Harry picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into material.

"It's an invisibility cloak," said Ron, a look of awe on his face. "I'm

sure it is -- try it on."

Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell.

"It is! Look down!"

Harry looked down at his feet, but they were gone. He dashed to the mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head suspended in midair, his body completely invisible. He pulled the cloak over his head and his reflection vanished completely.

"There's a note!" said Ron suddenly. "A note fell out of it!"

Harry pulled off the cloak and seized the letter. Written in narrow, loopy writing he had never seen before were the following words: _Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A Very Merry Christmas to you._

There was no signature. Harry stared at the note. Ron was admiring the cloak.

"I'd give anything for one of these," he said. "Anything. What's the matter?"

"Nothing," said Harry. He felt very strange. Who had sent the cloak? Had it really once belonged to his father? Before he could say or think anything else, the dormitory door was flung open and Fred and George Weasley bounded in. Harry stuffed the cloak quickly out of sight. He didn't feel like sharing it with anyone else yet.

"Merry Christmas dear brother and little Harrikins! Hey look even Harry got a Weasley jumper. Hey look mum's made a special one for him."

Harry had his best Christmas ever. He spent the morning having a huge snowball fight with the Weasleys and then had a sumptuous Christmas lunch. The twins were not exaggerating; Christmas at Hogwarts really was brilliant. It was the first time that Harry had over-eaten in his life. Throughout the day the invisibility cloak kept on appearing at the back of his mind. He was desperate to use it. But for some reason he wanted to use it alone for the first time. Finally they tucked in for the night and Harry decided to slink out.

Grabbing the cloak, he threw it over his head. He looked in the mirror to confirm that he was indeed invisible and then he stepped out. As he roamed around the corridors, he suddenly realized that no-one could see him. The whole of Hogwarts was open to him. He didn't Peeves to run surveillance before he and Ron explored something. Curfew meant nothing now. Bloody Hell the restricted section was completely accessible to him now.

Fifteen minutes later Harry was cursing his luck and running wildly. The first book he had picked up in the Restricted Section had let out a loud wail and had attracted Filch. To top it off, Snape was right there. He decided to stop and rest but he heard Snape's footsteps echoing in the background. He tried the first door and luckily it was open. He slinked into the room and breathed a sigh of relief.

It looked like an unused classroom. The dark shapes of desks and chairs were piled against the walls, and there was an upturned wastepaper basket -- but propped against the wall facing him was something that didn't look as if it belonged there, something that looked as if someone had just put it there to keep it out of the way.

It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_. His panic fading now that there was no sound of Filch and Snape, Harry moved nearer to the mirror, wanting to look at himself but see no reflection again. He stepped in front of it.

And gasped. Instead of his reflection with a background view of the room, he saw Ginny's pretty figure smiling and waving back at him. He went ahead to touch the figure as if expecting it to be some kind of portal to Ginny, hi mind was screaming against it but his hands seemed to have developed a mind of it's own. Suddenly a few inches from the mirror he stopped. The figure in the mirror was only waving over continuously, there was no other action from her…..it.

Harry stepped back. This had to some kind of illusion. He had read that magical mirrors held conversations just like the pictures. But this had to be some kind of trick. Suddenly the hair on Harry's back stood up. He felt as if someone was watching him. 'Crap..' he thought to himself as he pulled over the invisibility cloak over his head again and whipped out his wand. It was then that he realized how stupid it was. Whoever was there had certainly seen him without the cloak and he could hardly do any spells besides a few such as levitation, tickling charm, and the body bind.

Then he started laughing as he realized the extent of his folly. A few moments later he screamed as the figure of Dumbledore beard and all materialized to his right. He stopped laughing immediately.

"Er…Good Morning Professor. Do you like going on morning walks Sir?" It was a pathetic excuse and he knew it. Dumbledore started chuckling softly too.

"No Harry, I am particularly fond of my early morning beauty sleep. Hence I prefer a walk at midnight 1:25pm."

"Er technically that would be morning Sir. It is 1'O clock in the morning not midnight."

Dumbledore started outright laughing now. "Well Harry let me tell you, I can't remember the last time someone won a war of words with me. I am quite sure that it has been almost an entire century since that happened last."

"Oh…" Harry was wondering where exactly was this going. He was speculating about his punishment hoping that he wouldn't be thrown out at least. He decided to keep on talking since Dumbledore seemed to like that. "Er…was it another student Sir?"

"No Harry absolutely not, as a matter of fact quite the opposite. That was Nicolas Flamel; he taught me a lot of things about magic and about life really."

Harry was hardly interested in the answer he let that slip by. He was more concerned about his punishment. "Sir what is my punishment going to be? I mean it is not that I want o be punished or something but it is……"

"Well Harry we do have hit a small snag there. If you would go thoroughly through the Hogwarts' rule book you will realize that no punishments or deduction or addition to points can be made during the time, the term is out. If I am not mistaken it is the Christmas vacation. Dare I say that this will have to go unpunished."

Harry cracked a small smile. "You just made up that rule didn't you?"

"No Harry, the rules governing Hogwarts cannot be changed at a person's whims not even at that of the Headmaster's."

"Oh…. What is this mirror it is not a normal mirror is it?" Harry asked his heart now thumping a bit less wildly now.

"No Harry it is not. It is know as the 'Mirror of the Erised,' it shows a person the deepest desires of his heart."

"Oh." Harry tried to think of everything else but the smiling face of Ginny. He certainly didn't want Dumbledore to know about his deepest desire. Nor was he ready to believe that his deepest desire was a 10-year old girl. Now that he thought over it he thought that having a family, a real family complete with his parents would be his deepest desire. But then perhaps Ginny did represent a hope for family. Ahhh… Harry screamed internally.

"Er….Sir can I go." Harry asked and Dumbledore smiled at that. Suddenly something struck Harry. "You can see through invisibility cloaks can't you? And I didn't see you either. You have a one too don't you?"

"That Harry, is quite a brilliant observation. Yes I can see through invisibility cloaks however I don't possess one. When one become as old as I am you do learn a few tricks and yes you can go to Gryffindor tower. However please do not go on anymore midnight jaunts."

Harry simply nodded. Pulled over his cloak and sped out of the room and didn't stop until he reached the common room leaving behind a very very very confused Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore wished that he had been a bit quick when Harry saw the girl. He was so surprised to see Harry there that it took him a few moments to recover and try and see what Harry had seen in the mirror. He had only made out that it was a single girl but before he could look further Harry had turned around and whipped out his wand. That could have been passed off as paranoia but Harry wasn't pointing it at the place where the girl could have been. He was roughly pointing it in his direction. Somehow Harry had guessed that he was not alone in the room and Harry had even known the rough direction in which he was. But this wasn't the only astonishing thing of the entire night….morning. Harry had managed to break the spell of the mirror and look around for potential danger. Moody will be really proud, another strong-willed, alert and vigilant Potter. That was also why he was wary of probing Harry. He could hardly afford his mistrust. He knew that he was taking a risk in not telling Harry everything about the broom incident but Severus had hardly any proof to substantiate his accusation on Quirrel. His passive probing on Quirrel had done nothing but helped exonerate Quirrel.

Then there was the damn girl. Dumbledore hadn't cursed in a long time but this really was an exception. He hated not being in control of things at least most certainly not knowing about everything. But here was an 11-year old student who had him spiraling out of control. He didn't know about the girl, he didn't know how in the world could Harry detect legilimency probes and even throw off Severus' spell. No matter what Severus said Dumbledore knew that he never did anything in half measure, so it would be safe to assume that Harry had managed to throw off a full-blown attack again probably thanks to the girl.

Also, Dumbledore hardly knew whether to laugh, cry or groan at Harry's actions on a broom. He sincerely doubted that anyone would ever jump off a broom in the air and onto the stands. To top it off he survived with only a few hairline fractures and heavy bruising. Then he ran away from the infirmary by jumping off an open window on a broom. Harry's academic performance wasn't something to worry about at first glance but on greater inspection Dumbledore couldn't help but wonder what was happening. Harry was really brilliant at all practical work but his theoretical work left much to be desired. This wouldn't be an anomaly in itself, but his History of Magic essays were usually better than those of Miss Granger. Dumbledore would have let it pass for any other student, but Harry was too important to ignore anything. Last but not the least was Harry's knowledge of the castle and it's thoroughfares. Harry and his friend, Mr. Weasley knew simply too much about the castle to have found it out all by themselves inside a term. They had to have had help but he could hardly come up with a likely candidate. The Weasley twins were close to Harry but not that close and he could safely ignore Filch. Harry's supply of food too continue to befuddle Dumbledore, he missed simply too many meals to not know where the kitchens were and yet the house-elves insisted that no Harry Potter had ever visited the kitchens. Harry really was a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

The next morning Harry told Ron all about his adventures but left out the mirror and the Ginny part. Ron wasn't pleased that Harry hadn't woke him up, but Harry reasoned that he really wanted to use his dad's cloak alone for the first time. They did indeed wander around the castle under the cloak for the remaining time of the break, but Harry expressly avoided the areas around the mirror-room. Harry after 19 attempts at writing a "thank you"-note finally managed to send it to Mrs. Weasley before new years' eve. What Harry didn't know was that the twins had managed to collect all of the 19 discarded notes and mailed it with a school-owl to their mother and even told it about their feat to Harry.

"What! Are you crazy they; all had numerous mistakes. Your mother is going to think that I am some sort of a dumb whacko who can't even write a simple 'thank-you'-note;" groaned Harry.

"Trust us Harrikins; she is going to love you. She will think that you are a sweet little boy. Bet you, she will send you a note thanking you for the 'thank you'-note now." The twins replied.

Harry decided not to reply to that. Hermione returned back a day before the term began.

"So how was your break?" asked Hermione and before the boys could reply Hermione gave them a second by second run-down of her vacation. She finished an hour later. Harry as usual had tuned out but Ron had been hanging on to every single word. Then Ron gave her a day by day run down of their break. Hermione was scandalized that they were wandering after hours and that Dumbledore had not punished Harry inspite of catching him at 1:00am. She gave them another lecture about not breaking rules for the sake of them. "So did you find out who Flamel is?"

Harry who heard the last question cursed loudly. "Oh SHIT!"

"Harry don't curse it is……." Hermione began.

"No wait Hermione. How did I forget this? Dumbledore mentioned Flamel. He had said that Flamel taught him a lot about magic and life in general."

Hermione wasn't too excited at that. "We already know that Dumbledore knows Flamel. This only tells us that Dumbledore was perhaps was perhaps Flamel's apprentice."

On hearing this Ron got up like he had been pinched on the backside and ran towards the dorm. Even as Harry and Hermione were wondering what happened to Ron, he was back carrying in his hands a old worn out shoe-box.

"Flamel is mentioned on Dumbledore's chocolate card. Here's my entire collection. I have at least 10-Dumbledores. Begin searching." Ron finished and dove into the collection. Harry had never really appreciated how big Ron's collection was until just then. They had been searching for more than a 15-minutes but had hardly made a dent in the box. Finally Hermione found it.

"Look here it is."

'……..for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel……'

"Oh my God!" It was Hermione. "I have the boom on alchemy in my dorm all this time, but I thought……" She never completed the sentence as the next moment she was dashing up the stairs and a few moments later returned with a huge book.

"Nicolas Flamel," she whispered dramatically, "is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone!"

This didn't have quite the effect she'd expected.

"The what?" said Harry and Ron.

"Oh, honestly, don't you two read? Look -- read that, there." She pushed the book toward them, and Harry and Ron read: _**The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Sorcerer's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal. There have been many reports of the Sorcerer's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera lover. Mr. Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight).**_

"See?" said Hermione, when Harry and Ron had finished. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Sorcerer's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!"

"Snape is trying to steal a stone which makes gold forever and makes you immortal." Ron said clearly amazed. "Anyone would try to steal it, hell I wouldn't mind having it for just a day either."

The three were completely silent for a few minutes.

"The important question here is;" Harry paused for a moment "Is Snape ready to kill for the stone?"

Nobody said a word for a long time after that.


	9. Norbert, The Forest and Snape

The term had finally begun in full swing and by that it meant that Quidditch practices had restarted. The Gryffindor team was very upbeat after their overwhelming win over Slytherin. Everyone was enjoying the practices now. Hufflepuff never had a strong team and it was as if the team was damn sure of their victory over them. It was during the last practice before the Hufflepuff match that Harry noticed that Wood was looking really nervous. Harry went over to the twins who were having a lot of fun to seriously practice and asked them to concentrate on the game. The twins relented and the practice went off smoothly. It was after the practice that Harry learnt why Wood was so nervous.

"All right team, listen up." Wood began nervously. "On Saturday, Hufflepuff will not be our only opponent."

"Don't worry captain, we will not be overconfident….." The twins began but stopped after a look from Wood.

"What I mean is that, the referee will in all probability be completely unfair. Madame Hooch is not going to be the referee. Snape is going to be the referee.

Nobody spoke for a few moments then howls of protests burst out from the three chasers and the two beaters. Harry however was completely quiet. He was simply stunned. It was after a minute that everyone quietened down a bit. Wood had still to reply and Harry took this opportunity.

"Why does Snape want to referee? I mean, I know that if we win by a huge margin, Slytherin are practically out of the Quidditch Cup race. But Snape is not a fool no matter how much we all hate him he is bloody smart. I mean he hijacks the House Cup race rather discretely, would he try to hijack the Quidditch cup in front of the entire school?"

Everyone was thoughtful for a moment. Harry wanted to scream out loudly that Snape wanted to kill him outright but it didn't make any sense. Snape could do it discretely from the stands. Or he could somehow achieve it while flying and then defend himself by saying that he was flying, he couldn't have managed to do both at the same time.

The team talked about it for some more time and then they broke up and headed back to the castle. Halfway to the castle Harry was way-laid by the twins. It was Fred who spoke up.

"There is something more to the Snape issue, isn't there? Something that we don't know?"

Harry took a deep breath. He knew he had made a mistake when he had voiced his opinion out loudly, but he couldn't help it. It had just come out. He simply nodded. The twins didn't say anything but they did expectantly wait for an answer. Harry knew that there was no way out of answering.

"Can you guys keep an absolute secret?" The twins looked at each other and nodded after a moment. "Ron, Hermione and I think that it was Snape who was jinxing my broom during the Slytherin match. I know sounds incredulous and all but it was Hermione who said so and not me or Ron. She said that Snape was continuously maintaining eye-contact with my broom and also muttering something under his breath."

The twins looked at each other and Harry wondered if some kind of silent communication was going on. "You told anyone?"

"Besides Hagrid, no-one."

"Hagrid will never believe it, Dumbledore and his professors can do no wrong in Hagrid's eyes. You know Harry I mean you are not probably lying but why was Snape trying to get rid of you. I mean it couldn't have been only so that Slytherin would win."

Harry let out a huge breath. "Can you keep another absolute secret?" Harry started again without waiting for a reply. "Snape is trying to steal something that Dumbledore is trying to protect. We of course have no proof of it but there is enough circumstantial evidence which points towards Snape and Snape knows that we know that he is trying to steal it."

"Steal what?" The twins asked.

"I can't tell you that?" Harry replied. It wasn't like he didn't trust the twins to keep a secret but he didn't trust the twins to not go and investigate the damn third floor corridor. It would be too big a mess if the twins were found out or if they were injured by the three-headed dog. "Look it's not like I don't trust you or something but it is not my….our secret to tell. But I will promise you this, the moment I can tell you about it I will."

The twins obviously didn't like it but they seemed to be satisfied with Harry's answer. Promising to smack a bludger towards Snape if Harry's broom started misbehaving again, the twins and Harry headed back to the castle. Ron and Hermione took the news of Snape being the referee really badly, though for completely different reasons. Ron was afraid that the match was completely out of their hands and Hermione was afraid for Harry's life. The rest of the Gryffindor house wasn't too pleased about the whole arrangement either and even went to the extent of submitting a plea signed by every member of the house to Professor McGonagall, but even that did not help in changing the referee.

Finally the day of the match arrived. It was a clear and sunny yet a bit cold day. Wood had taken Harry aside before the match and told him that their only hope was an early catch of the snitch as that was the only action over which Snape had absolutely no control. Ever since the news of Snape refereeing had spread the match had generated tremendous interest in the school and practically the entire school was there in the stands.

"Blimey it looks like the entire school is here." Fred stated the obvious. "Blimey, even Dumbledore is here."

Harry's heart leaped at that. If Dumbledore was there, Snape wouldn't try anything or wouldn't he? His heart thumping a lot less wildly now, Harry stepped onto the field with his team-mates.

Lee was doing the commentary as usual but his comments were extremely subdued, almost as if he wasn't expecting anything out of the match. Harry meanwhile wasn't even looking in Snape's direction; his eyes were frantically scanning the skies for any sign of the golden shimmer even before the game had officially started. Snape blew the whistle and the teams were into the air to a great roar from all the stands. It seemed that even the Slytherins wanted to cheer their Head of House.

The moment the teams were into the air one of the twins had hit a bludger towards Snape…...accidentally of course. Snape blew the whistle and awarded Hufflepuff a penalty. But before he could even get into a position to oversee the penalty, Harry was streaking like a missile through the air dead straight on a collision course towards Snape.

A collective gasp was heard throughout the stadium as the penalty was forgotten, even Lee stopped commenting as everyone was concentrating on what appeared to a sure-shot collision as Harry was obviously not going to change his course nor was Snape moving though it wasn't clear whether Snape had frozen due to nerves or was simply being stubborn. Barely a few milli-seconds before the collision Snape's nerves failed him and he moved…….tried to move. It was too late to completely get out of Harry's way and Harry's left knee plowed into the handle of Snape's broom and a loud crack was heard throughout the stadium as Snape lost control of his broom and he started to loose altitude but not too quickly for the fall to be fatal or even seriously injure him but a moment later Snape was forgotten as Harry rode back into the air much more comfortably with his right hand held over his head and the golden snitch fluttering helplessly in his hand.

A roar went up in the Gryffindor stand. They had won the match by 150-points. Lee suddenly found his voice back.

"And Gryffindor wins-----Ladies and Gentlemen Gryffindor has won the match in under 30 seconds----that has to be a brand new Quidditch record----commiserations to the Hufflepuff team but Harry was simply brilliant today---and that is the end of Snape's----"

"Jordan only the Quidditch please." Professor McGonagall only half-heartedly tried to prevent Lee from commenting on Snape's 30 seconds long referring career.

It was pandemonium on the pitch. It had taken the rest of the team 5 seconds after Harry's triumphant climb into the air to converge onto him. Wood had hugged him and nearly crushed him to death while Angelina, Alicia and Katie had settled for a kiss on each of his cheeks. The twins had chosen to throw him into the crowd of the approaching Gryffindors where Harry had nearly been killed by the number of back-slaps that he received. After celebrating their win on the pitch for half an hour the entire Gryffindor house headed for their tower with Harry raised on the twins' shoulders.

The full-blown euphoria over the 30-seconds win lasted for an entire week and the toned-down euphoria lasted for another one. Surprisingly the Slytherins and not the Hufflepuffs had taken the events at the match as a personal insult. The Hufflepuffs were disappointed but they most sincerely appreciated Harry's catch. The Slytherins didn't take kindly to the fact that their Head of the House was not only humiliated in the air when he was sent crashing to the ground by Harry but the fact that he could hardly make any effect on the outcome of the match had ensured that the Slytherins were practically out of running from the Quidditch Cup.

Snape had even tried to get Harry disqualified from future matches for blatantly attacking the match official. However Wood got out the Quidditch rule book which stated clearly that if the official was in the most direct path of an Quidditch element (a snitch or a Quaffle or a bludger) it was the official's responsibility to move out of the way. This also meant that the penalty that Snape had awarded Hufflepuff was illegal. However, Harry privately agreed to Ron, Hermione and the entire team that he could have easily got the snitch even without taking such a direct route for it.

Clearly disappointed that his referring stunt had fetched him nothing but embarrassment, Snape redoubled his efforts of malice against Harry and that was saying something. On an average the Gryffindor First years came out of the Potions' class at least a twenty points lighter. Harry often wondered if Snape knew that they had guessed practically everything about the stone and Snape's intentions behind them after all Snape could read minds or surface thoughts couldn't he.

"Tell me again Hermione why exactly are we here in the library watching you write something in small boxes, small boxes which make up one big box?" Ron asked completely frustrated. Hermione had dragged Ron and Harry away from Peeves and they had not liked that at all. Peeves it turned out was a hard master. He had declared that he wouldn't show them anymore secrets unless they passed a test that he would set. Ron and Harry had taken to the challenge enthusiastically and were preparing at full tilt for the test and were hardly impressed when Hermione had dragged them away.

"I am preparing study schedules for all of us. We will have to sit for exams in another 3-months and we need to pass it to proceed to the next year. We have to study according to a plan. All of the subjects need to be classified according to one's strengths and weaknesses and appropriate amount of time has to be devoted to each. Only on doing this can we hope to achieve any modicum of success."

Ron and Harry were looking at Hermione as if she had grown another head. They were both stunned into silence. Surprisingly it was Ron who recovered first.

"Er…Hermione how much do we need to pass?"

"Well, it is a '30-30-40' kind of marking scheme. 30 for the practical class-work and or homework; 30 for the practical examination if applicable otherwise the written exam will be credited for 70 marks. Wherever practical examinations are applicable in subjects like Astronomy, Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration and Potions 40 are credited for the theory examination. If I am not mistaken you need 35 to pass for the first 4-years but that increases to 50 from the 5th year onwards."

Ron and Harry's faces spilt into big smiles at that pronouncement. They looked at each other. They were clearly both thinking about the same thing.

"That's great, I mean we have already pretty much passed in History….." began Ron.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked clearly outraged that anyone could pass an examination without even appearing for it.

"Well, Hermione don't you remember, we have received full marks on every single piece of History homework that we have ever submitted and I sincerely doubt that it is going to change over the next few months." Harry began. It looked like Hermione wanted to interrupt but Ron gave her no chance and continued where Harry had left off.

"Charms and Transfiguration even though the homework grades aren't too good we have indeed managed to complete all the assigned practical work not to mention even though the homework grades aren't that good, we can easily pass if we just once look through all the spells that we have been taught and the practical exams will be in the bag. So that's three subjects now that we have as good as passed without studying. Astronomy and Herbology might need a bit more work but nothing that a couple of days before the exam cannot solve. Okay I might need a bit more work than Harry would but surely not three months. Same goes for Defence. So Hermione you see…….."

Hermione was the one to be struck speechless now. "You two are mad. Completely and utterly crazy."

"Well you see Hermione you have to know how best to take advantage of the given situations." Harry declared emphatically.

She didn't speak up for a while but then with a triumphant gleam in her eyes asked, "What about Potions?"

Ron and Harry knew that they had hit a bump on the road a rather big bump. Not that they were bad at Potions or something. In fact Harry was really brilliant at it. Ron wasn't half bad either and could brew an assigned potion any day, not perhaps with the finesse of Harry but certainly a passable one. Snape was the only damned variable as far as Potions was concerned. Anything than the best and Snape barely passed the Gryffindors. There was no reason why it would be any different in an exam.

"Yes, Hermione you were saying something about making schedules and assigning appropriate time to expect any modicum of victory or something." Harry conceded and Ron only nodded his head in agreement.

"Thank you very much and now sit quietly and sit still so that I can finish the little boxes."

Harry and Ron were not overtly happy when they received their fully filled boxes. Hermione had assigned time-blocks for everything from brushing their teeth to taking a bath. Their meals were actually timed too. There was even a cloak time which was a code for their jaunts under the invisibility cloak. Ron and Harry however did manage to postpone the enforcement of the schedule by a week so that they could appear for Peeves' test. On the assigned night Peeves met them in the common-room at 1'O clock in the morning.

"Scarhead and Rusty, Peeves is designing a test for you. You two have to go the Astronomy tower and then to kitchens and then come back here. But you is having to come back before 2'O clock. Peeves will not be helping you and he will not be troubling you. Now Go."

But Harry didn't start moving immediately. Ron looked at him in a questioning manner. "What happened Harry? The clock is ticking."

"We will never make it to both the places and back to the tower if we are both under the invisibility cloak. We can't run that quickly under the invisibility cloak. You take the invisibility cloak and run off to the tower. I will meet you there and we will discuss what to do next there."

Ron took the cloak pulled it on and dashed out of the portrait hole. Harry meanwhile went back to his dorm to get his broom. He climbed the stairs to the top of the tower and jumped out of the window and started flying towards the astronomy tower. He reached the tower and impatiently waited for Ron. He hoped that Ron wouldn't run into Dumbledore. Ron reached the astronomy tower huffing and puffing at 1:25am closely followed by Peeves.

"Now…..wh-what?" Ron asked trying to catch his breath.

"Forget the cloak. We will have to make a dash for the kitchens without it. We will carry it but only use it under extreme circumstances. I will leave my broom here. Though lets stay close to each other." Harry knew that he was taking a chance with the broom but he had no choice and it wasn't like someone was actually going to be wandering around.

A moment later they were running off again. They used as many short-cuts as they could remember. Their path had been surprisingly clear until they reached the kitchen corridor. They ran into Mrs. Norris and that meant that Filch was nearby. They literally stopped dead as they saw Mrs. Norris and heard her hissing which was soon followed by the noise of Filch's footsteps. Luckily Harry had the presence of mind to whip out the cloak and the two went under it just in time.

"What is it darling? Anybody out of bounds? Smell them out dear."

Filch's conversation with Mrs. Norris like she was his girlfriend or something almost made them laugh but they controlled. However it was clear to them that they needed to move, even though Mrs. Norris couldn't see them anymore she could smell them. Harry made a decision and decided to go after the kitchen door which was about half way between them and Filch. Signaling Ron to run he counted down to three and started running. They had just reached the fruit-bowl when Mrs. Norris started running. Ron tickled the pear and the portal opened a second later. Another second later they were both inside and they smashed the painting. They heard the squealing of Mrs. Norris, they had hopefully injured her.

Looking around Harry realized that they were trapped. Filch would come in within a few seconds and then there would be no way getting to the common room in time. They might not get caught but they would fail. Harry looked around and saw the House tables. He suddenly had an incredulously stupid idea. He fished around in his pocket for a quill, found it and threw it into a bowl in the nearest table. Amazingly it disappeared.

He looked around and saw a couple of big copper cauldrons. He rushed towards them, lifted one and placed it on a table and threw in another quill. That too amazingly disappeared. Ron who had been watching silently had pretty much got the gist of the entire idea.

"Ron, please trust me on this one. Get another cauldron and jump into it."

They had just got the second cauldron onto the table when they heard the portrait opening and knew that they had to do it immediately. Harry stuffed the cloak in his pocket and then the two jumped into the cauldron. For a moment Harry thought that it hadn't worked and that he was going to look like a total fool. Then he felt a like he had been compressed and uncompressed. He opened his eyes only to see the sky above him and wondered where in the world had they ended up, only to realize that they were in the Great Hall and the sky was the ceiling. He looked around and saw that Ron had made it too. They were safe albeit a bit uncomfortable. Ron managed to untangle himself from the cauldron before Harry did and he rushed over to help him out.

"We made it. That was some way to travel." Ron said clearly unimpressed with the means of travel.

"Yeah, let's get out of here before Filch figures out where we went. Lucky none of the house-elves were there. C'mon we have only 10minutes to make it back."

They barely made it back in time to the Gryffindor Tower. Peeves was actually delighted that Ron and Harry had managed to 'pass' his test as such and promised to continue with their endeavor to know the castle as good as their back hands. As a bonus he even got Harry's broom back from the tower though it took him a lot of time as he couldn't go through the walls while carrying the broom nor could he get outside the castle. This quite intrigued Ron and Harry.

"Let me get this straight Peeves, you are er……." Harry wondered if calling him dead would be rather impolite. "…. 'alive' because of the magic that exists within Hogwarts?"

"Yes."

"But aren't you already dead?" As usual Ron had all the subtlety of a bull-dozer.

But Peeves didn't look offended at all. "Yes Rusty. But ghosts don't exist forever. They have to move on to the 'next big adventure' sometime. They is living on borrowed time as ghosts. But when they is living inside Hogwarts they is borrowing magic from Hogwarts and then they can delay moving on for a very long time."

"Er….how long exactly is the delay?" Harry continued.

Peeves looked thoughtful for a moment. "Peeves is not knowing. No ghost at Hogwarts is ever moving on." Peeves finished the answer and glided away a minute later leaving a thoughtful Harry and an asleep Ron in the common-room.

Hermione was peeved at Ron and Harry when she found them sleeping in the common-room when they were supposed to have started following the time-table that she had so painstakingly drawn up. And she was beyond outraged after hearing how they had managed to get themselves almost caught by Filch. But she forgot to get mad when they told her about how they escaped from the kitchens and about the ghosts who are 'alive' thanks only to the magic from Hogwarts. After hearing that, she forgot about following her own schedule and practically ran to the library to research about ghosts. Ron and Harry decided to continue their sleep the moment the portrait hole closed behind her.

It was almost a week later that Ron and Harry finally started following a time-table that had any resemblance to what Hermione had drawn-up. They still refused to point blank study any theory for charms and transfiguration though they did go over all the spells that they had learned through the year until then and some more to Hermione's consternation. And as Peeves still refused to tell them about their history assignment if Hermione was there, she wasn't exactly in a great mood. So to pacify Hermione a bit, Ron and Harry had decided to stick to the schedule for the entire week-end and they were already finding it hard to do so at 11:00am on Saturday morning.

However their 'stack of boxes' as Ron had named the schedule all came crashing down after they discovered Hagrid's new 'intended' pet and at 11:30am they found themselves in Hagrid's hut trying to convince him not to hatch a 'Grade A' non-tradable and highly illegal dragon-egg.

"C'mon Hagrid try to imagine what would happen if you were discovered?" Harry had enough of polite convincing and now was adopting a more aggressive approach. "You could lose your job. Hell you could go to that Azkaban thing maybe even Professor Dumbledore would lose his job."

On any other day this would have convinced Hagrid but it seemed that the sizzling fire in the grate had made Hagrid oblivious to everything including the logical part of his brain. A couple of days later they received a note from Hagrid at lunch telling them that the egg was about to hatch and surprisingly Hermione had no qualms about bunking off Charms to see an actual dragon hatch after-all it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

An hour-later 'Norbert' the baby Norwegian Ridgeback was welcomed into the world by his cooing mommy Hagrid. Norbert responded promptly by sneezing a few sparks and singeing Hagrid's beard but Hagrid failed to notice it. A week later Hagrid's affection towards Norbert had hardly diminished but his body was certainly feeling the 'heat'. Harry finally decided enough was enough.

"Hagrid, we have to do something about Norbert or he is going to end-up either killing you or burning down the house and even maybe hurting a student." This finally seemed to have had an effect on Hagrid.

"But I can't abandon him, he will die. He needs care and tender affection." Watching Norbert viciously tear into a piece of meat didn't make Harry think so but that was not his main concern. They had to get rid of Norbert he had no idea exactly how.

"Charlie." It was Ron who had spoken up. "We could ask Charlie if he can take Norbert."

After much haggling Hagrid agreed that if Charlie agreed to take the dragon and promised to take good care of him he would have no problems in giving away Norbert. The trio wasted no time in composing a letter and Hedwig was off with it 15-minutes after Hagrid agreed.

They all waited rather nervously for Charlie's reply and it came three days later. Charlie was more than happy to receive a baby Norwegian Ridgeback as they were in fact a protected and endangered species. Though he completely, refused to believe that three first years simply came across a baby dragon in the Forbidden Forest. They had not mentioned Hagrid worried that if his name cropped up he might face some action.

Hagrid very tearfully thanked the three and promised that he would have the Norbert in a sturdy wooden box by Wednesday night. It was on Wednesday night that Charlie's friends were supposed to come to the astronomy tower at midnight.

"Thank Merlin, Wednesday night and the bloody dragon would be off our hands." As usual Ron had blurted out loudly in an empty corridor.

"Shut up Ron. Not so freaking loud." Harry snapped. As they reached the end of the corridor they spotted Malfoy hurriedly climbing down the staircases and they froze.

"Do you think he heard about the dragon?" Hermione asked in a timid voice.

Harry did not reply for a few moments. "We have no way to tell."

"What do we do now?" Ron was sounding really sorry now and was actually talking softly now.

"We can't make any changes. There is not enough time to change any plans. Norbert goes out tomorrow night whether or not Malfoy knows. We will have to be extra careful now though. Might as well rope in Peeves." Harry finished.

They had a brainstorming session and finally decided that they would fly from Hagrid's hut up to the Astronomy tower. Since Ron did not have a broom, they would have to nick one of the school-brooms for Ron. This also meant that Hermione was out of the picture. They only hoped that somehow they would be able to carry the box up to the tower. After they finished Ron would use the invisibility cloak to return back to the tower while Harry would fly back to the tower. Wednesday night came and they reached Hagrid's to get Norbert. Hagrid was rather emotional.

"He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey," said Hagrid in a muffled voice. "An' I've packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely."

From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded to Harry as though the teddy was having his head torn off.

"Bye-bye, Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed, as Harry and Ron tried to get the crate mounted onto a broom "Mommy will never forget you!"

It was then that Harry realized their predicament. There was no way for both Ron and him to actually synchronize their flight so as to carry the crate between them. Finally they decided that they both would fly on Harry's Nimbus with Ron holding up the crate as he was relatively the stronger of the two.

The two and the crate got onto the broom. It creaked a bit but supported their weight. In an instant they were up in the air. It was rather uncomfortable for them with Ron carrying the crate and sitting behind Harry. Harry was half afraid that Ron would drop the crate but he did no such nothing and a couple of minutes later they were on the top of the astronomy tower.

At the strike of midnight, Charlie's friends arrived. They were a jolly lot and showed the duo the harness they had come up with to carry the crate. At five past midnight they were off and Norbert was out of their lives.

"Well am I glad that's over. Here take the cloak and get to the tower." Harry said, but then he wasn't so sure about that part of the idea. If Malfoy had informed someone about it there might be somebody waiting outside the common-room door. "Forget the cloak, we are both flying in."

"But why, no one can see me." Ron began to object.

"Dumbledore can and what if there is someone waiting right outside the common-room. We can't take that chance. We will have to fly in through that window."

"You sure, you can fly in the two of us." Ron asked a bit nervously. Harry didn't reply but only nodded grimly and mounted the broom. A couple of minutes later Ron and Harry were in their beds and Hermione had raced off to her dorm all hoping that that was the last of the dragon that they had heard.

Harry woke up surprisingly early the next morning and actually followed Hermione's schedule for brushing his teeth and taking a bath that is. The next box was spent in waking up Ron and rushing to breakfast instead of studying; they had skipped dinner out of nervousness the earlier evening and were ravenous now.

They were joined at breakfast by Neville who wanted some help in transfiguration and Hermione was telling him about it. Harry had just started off on the kippers when a drawling voice interrupted him.

"Well if it isn't Potty and his sidekicks." Malfoy looked peeved as he approached them with his goons by the side.

Harry groaned and simply continued eating and surprisingly so did Ron, his appetite winning over the Gryffindor pride. Malfoy however continued on.

"I know about your dragon Potter and I know that you are going to do something with him tonight."

Harry calmly continued munching on but his mind was in an overdrive. It didn't make any sense. If Malfoy knew about the dragon why in the world was he telling him instead of Snape or frankly even Professor McGonagall about it. He had thought that Malfoy would have tried his best to get him into trouble. Unless……unless Malfoy had already tried last night and failed. That had to be the only explanation. A smile crept onto Harry's face.

"Excellent deductions Malfoy, unfortunately for you we have already got rid of the dragon last night." He paused. Ron had finally stopped eating and now along with Hermione was now staring at Harry as if he had gone mad. Malfoy's face had turned a bit red. Harry couldn't decide whether it was out of anger or something else. "So Malfoy, how does it feel to be a totally inept arse?"

Harry had spoken out the last line exceptionally loud and his noise had carried over the entire Gryffindor table and most of the first years were laughing now. Malfoy was seething now. Harry couldn't fathom why. Malfoy had already bungled up trapping them so why was he so angry now.

"I will get you one day, Potter. You think you are so smart but you are nothing but a half-blood who has got his forehead cut up. You are nothing but a damned Scarhead. " Malfoy pronounced with an air of England declaring war on France.

"Hey, you can't call me Scarhead." For a moment a glow of satisfaction could be seen on Malfoy's face. But it was brutally shot down. "Only friends call me Scarhead, it is my damned nickname and I like it very much. Though I am quite flattered that you wanted to be my friend and all but no thanks, I don't deign to consort with your sort."

It was quiet, for a few moments and then Ron couldn't help it anymore and he burst out laughing and was soon joined in by Hermione and then Harry started laughing too. A moment later almost the entire Gryffindor table was laughing.

Malfoy's face was absolutely red now and he knew that he had lost the battle if you might. Since he knew that he couldn't get back at Harry he took the lowest shot possible. He waited till the laughter quietened down a bit.

"What are you laughing at, Longbottom? Hold your hands over your mouth while you are laughing or your memory might slip out just like your insane, deranged and mentally ill parents." Malfoy finished with a smirk set on his face.

Harry stopped laughing instantly and looked at Neville. He was as white as a sheet and completely shocked. His head was hanging down in shame. Harry could almost see tears forming in Neville's eyes. The entire table had heard that comment from Malfoy and had their eyes riveted on Neville now. As far as Harry remembered Neville had never mentioned his parents and everyone especially the First years had simply assumed that they were dead.

It was a really low and cheap blow from Malfoy, one he knew would hit dead home. Harry knew that it come to Neville only because he happened to be sitting near Harry. Harry felt really angry and he could almost feel his blood boiling. Before he knew what he was doing he had stood up, wound his arm and punched Malfoy straight on the nose and a moment later followed it up with another punch on the jaw. He noted with some pleasure that once again those energy surges had played their part and he was sure that Malfoy's nose was certainly broken and his jaw was fractured too.

Silence reigned over the entire Great Hall and only Malfoy's cries of anguish could be heard. Harry knew that he had it now. No matter how provoked he was he had been completely irresponsible. He had just punched Malfoy twice in front of the entire Hogwarts' staff. At least Dumbledore wasn't there.

A moment later Professor McGonagall was besides him and steam was practically coming out of her ears. She surprisingly addressed Malfoy even though Snape was barely a few feet behind.

"Mr. Malfoy, I think you can find your way to the infirmary and you will serve a detention for your actions and twenty points from Slytherin." Snape tried to say something but surprisingly a look from Professor McGonagall had him swallowing his words. He lifted up Malfoy and dragged him rather roughly towards the infirmary.

"My office please, Mr. Potter." She finished and stalked away out of the Great Hall.

Harry reached her office a few minutes later and found the door open. He entered and sat down in his usual chair without any prompting and waited for Professor McGonagall to begin the 'proceedings'. A minute later Professor McGonagall sat down and slammed the door shut with her wand.

"Harry, would you please explain as to why you went from laughing to resorting to muggle-violence inside a few seconds."

Harry noted the use of his first name and wondered what in the world did that really indicate. "You heard the entire thing Mam."

"That I did, but what I really want to know is why you resorted to physical violence."

Harry thought over the question and realized that he had no answer. He had allowed his emotions and not his mind to control his actions. It felt good to punch Malfoy though mind you but it wasn't really completely right either. Harry hung his head.

"I shouldn't have done it. I mean he probably deserved it completely. But……" Harry left the answer hanging.

Professor McGonagall took one long, really long look at Harry which made him wonder if she was reading his mind too but somehow he couldn't picture Professor McGonagall doing that.

"You will serve a detention too and fifty points from Gryffindor. Now get going to your class unless you need medical attention."

Harry spent the rest of the day on auto-pilot. It seemed that the Gryffindors hardly cared that they had lost another fifty points and were practically all but congratulating Harry. Neville was missing from all the classes of the day and Harry was completely confused about what to do about him. The trio spent the evening doing homework and preferred having dinner in the kitchens but Neville was still missing from the common room, he finally turned up when the common-room was almost empty. He came down and sat down on the seat in front of Harry. Almost as if by silent agreement Ron and Hermione got up and left for the dorms.

Neville was silent for a few moments and then finally asked Harry. "You knew about my parents didn't you?"

Harry wondered what he was going to tell him and finally decided that the truth would be the best way to go. "Your mother is my godmother."

Neville nodded and was silent again. A few minutes later he stood up and started walking away without another word.

"Neville would you please do me a favour?" Neville nodded so Harry continued. "Please don't tell anyone about your mother being my godmother; I am not really supposed to know it."

"Okay." That was all that Neville said and he started walking again.

Exams were barely three weeks away and the trio was surprisingly studying quite hard. Snape had been beyond horrible to the Gryffindors since the Malfoy incident and was now literally failing every Potion that the Gryffindors made. This meant that every night all the Gryffindor first years could be seen in the common-room brewing their Potions. The rest of the house wasn't really pleased with that arrangement but tried to ignore them as they too had heard about the treatment that the First Years were receiving from Snape. They had taken it as a huge challenge; something that they knew would annoy Snape to no limit.

Harry was to serve detention with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest at midnight. Hermione was furious that a student was being made to serve detention in the forest that too at night and that too barely a week before the exams but Ron actually looked like he wanted to go on the detention too. Before Harry left for detention Ron and Hermione promised that they would be waiting for him to come back and boy was Harry happy that they had.

Harry was rather happy about the detention frankly. For one it was with Hagrid and it was in the Forbidden Forest and Malfoy was scared like hell of going into the forest. Filch left Harry and Malfoy with Hagrid who was dressed in a heavy moleskin coat and had a large crossbow and Fang as usual was at his feet.

Malfoy turned to Hagrid. "I'm not going in that forest," he said, and Harry was pleased to hear the note of panic in his voice.

"Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts," said Hagrid fiercely. "Yeh've done wrong an' now yehve got ter pay fer it."

"But this is servant stuff; it's not for students to do. I thought we'd be copying lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he'd tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts,"

Hagrid growled. "Copyin' lines! What good's that ter anyone? Yeh'll do summat useful or Yeh'll get out. If yeh think yer father'd rather you were expelled, then get back off ter the castle an' pack. Go on"'

Malfoy didn't move. He looked at Hagrid furiously, but then dropped his gaze.

"Right then," said Hagrid, "now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."

He led them to the very edge of the forest. Holding his lamp up high, he pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. A light breeze lifted their hair as they looked into the forest.

"Look there," said Hagrid, "See that stuff shining on the ground? Silvery stuff? That's unicorn blood. There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week. I found one dead last Wednesday. We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery."

"And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?" said Malfoy, unable to keep the fear out of his voice.

"There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang," said Hagrid. "An' keep ter the path. Right, now, we're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in different directions. There's blood all over the place, it must've bin staggerin' around since last night at least."

"I want this dog off yours." Malfoy said quickly.

"All right yeh can have him. Harry yer go with them." Harry wasn't particularly looking forward to that but he nodded none the less. "Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? Get yer wands out an' practice now -- that's it -- an' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll all come an' find yeh -- so, be careful -- let's go."

The forest was black and silent. A little way into it they reached a fork in the earth path, Hagrid took the right path and Harry and Malfoy took the left one. They walked in silence for sometime.

"So Potter what do you think is killing the unicorns? A werewolf?"

Harry was surprised. Malfoy could hold a civil conversation…….well at least one civil line. "Nah. I doubt that a werewolf can do that. Unicorns are supposed to be impossible to catch, remember."

Suddenly Fang whined in a low tenor and stopped walking. Harry stopped too and tried to listen to around. He heard the wind blowing through the trees and then he heard a distinctly different noise. Something was slithering over dead leaves nearby: it sounded like a cloak trailing along the ground. Harry squinted up the dark path, but after a few seconds, the sound faded away.

Harry made a movement to follow the noise but Malfoy stuttered. "I am not following whatever that thing is."

Harry groaned. If he didn't set off soon, that thing would disappear for sure. "Suit yourself. I am going after it." Harry said and set off at a run along the path. The moment Harry started running off; Malfoy turned around and started making his way out of the forest.

As soon as Harry was sure that he was beyond Malfoy's vision, he whipped out his invisibility cloak and put it on. That thing that he had heard had not been an animal for sure. He followed the patch for another half an hour, deeper and deeper into the forest, until the path became almost impossible to follow because the trees were so thick. Harry thought the blood seemed to be getting thicker. There were splashes on the roots of a tree, as though the poor creature had been thrashing around in pain close by. Harry could see a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak.

Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. Harry inched closer. It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. Harry had never seen anything so beautiful and sad. Its long, slender legs were stuck out at odd angles where it had fallen and its mane was spread pearly-white on the dark leaves.

Harry got out of the cloak and stuffed it back into his robes. He had barely taken a step towards the unicorn when a slithering sound made him freeze on the spot. It was the same sound that he had heard back at the start of the trail. Then suddenly a bush on the edge of the clearing quivered...Then, out of the shadows, a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking beast. The hooded figure bent down towards the fallen unicorn and put his mouth around the unicorn's wound. Suddenly Harry realized that the figure intended to drink unicorn's blood and Harry did the first thing that came to his mind.

Harry whipped out his wand and cried out "Rictumsempra;" It was the only spell that came to his mind.

The figure jerked away from the unicorn but was clearly not affected by it. It looked up at Harry and suddenly he felt blinding pain in his head. He felt as if his head was about to burst. It was as if his scar was on fire. Almost blinded by the pain Harry sank to ground. It was then that he realized that the figure was advancing on him. If he was to save himself he had to do something. He tried his level-best to ignore the pain and lifted up his wand and cried out "Petrificus Totalus."

The figure stopped in it's tracks and the pain in Harry's head subsided a bit. But a moment later the figure started walking up to Harry again. Harry panicked. He wondered if he was going to die there. He looked down in pain and saw a lifeline. There were rocks strewn all about. Feeling a bit silly, he picked one up and slammed it towards the advancing figure.

A grunt escaped the figure. The stone had found it's mark. Harry picked up another stone and threw it at the figure again and again and again. They were clearly physically hurting it. Harry wondered through the pain as to why wasn't it attacking him in anyway but it simply was trying to avoid the stones that too practically unsuccessfully. A couple of minutes later Harry was feeling really weak from the pain and he was finding it difficult to aim properly. But the figure seemed to have had enough and suddenly fled into the underbrush.

The pain in Harry's scar disappeared almost immediately and he sank down into the ground in relief. He took a few deep breaths and then suddenly remembered the unicorn. He ran towards the unicorn and saw that it was still alive. He removed his robes and pressed it against his wound. He hoped that human first aid applied to magical animals too. He got up and lifted the limbs and got them into what looked to him to be a comfortable position. The unicorn too gave a moan of thanks. Suddenly Harry heard a pair of hooves bounding towards him. Harry looked up and saw a half horse half human gallop into the clearing. He had a crossbow in his hand too but somehow Harry's didn't feel threatened by it.

"What…..Who are you?" Harry mumbled after a moment.

"I am a centaur, Firenze. You are the Potter boy." The centaur said by the way of answer. "You have to leave quickly; there is danger here for you."

Harry looked around half expecting that figure to come out again. Then suddenly he remembered the sparks. He got his wand out and sent out green sparks. He turned around towards the centaur again.

"Do you know what that thing was?" Harry asked Firenze.

"Do you know what unicorn blood is used for?" Firenze questioned back as a way of answer.

"No…..but I am guessing that it can't be for a good purpose."

It is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn," said Firenze. "Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a terrible price. You have slain something pure and defenseless to save yourself, and you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips."

"But then who would want a lie like that? Wouldn't it be a completely cursed life or something wouldn't death be better?"

"It is," Firenze agreed, "unless all you need is to stay alive long enough to drink something else -- something that will bring you back to full strength and power -- something that will mean you can never die. Mr. Potter, do you know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?"

"The Philosopher's Stone! Of course -- the Elixir of Life! But I don't understand who --"

"Can you think of nobody who has waited many years to return to power, who has clung to life, awaiting their chance?"

It was as though an iron fist had clenched suddenly around Harry's heart. Over the rustling of the trees, he seemed to hear once more what Hagrid had told him the day they had met: "Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die."

"Do you mean," Harry croaked, "that was Vol-"

"Harry are yer all right?" Hagrid had reached the clearing.

"I will you now Mr. Potter, the centaurs are excellent star-gazers but we have read the stars wrong before." Firenze bowed to Harry and galloped away.

"Where is that Malfoy-boy, Harry?" Hagrid asked as he started advancing towards the unicorn. "Cor, forget him, this poor fella still seems to be alive, c'mon here take my crossbow."

Hagrid then lifted up the unicorn in one swift motion and started walking back along the path towards the castle. A moment later Harry lifted the crossbow and then started following Hagrid towards the castle too.

Harry didn't say a word during the trip back to the castle. There were simply too many things in his mind. Voldemort. Voldemort was hiding in the Forbidden Forest and bloody hell Snape! Snape wasn't trying to steal the stone for himself but for Voldemort. Snape was trying to bring Voldemort back to life and Dumbledore had Snape guarding the stone. Oh boy it was a damned mess. He had to do something if Snape managed to get the stone, all hell would probably break loose. Something had to be done. But how in the freaking world? Nobody was going to believe an 11-year old wizard over a damned Professor. Harry needed more proof. But how?

In the meantime they had reached Hagrid's hut. Hagrid gently placed the unicorn on the soft vegetable patch.

"Stay 'ere fer a moment Harry. I will get some things from the hut and then you can head back to the castle." Harry stepped near the unicorn and bent down. He was still in considerable amount of pain. Harry bent down and patted the unicorn. The unicorn nuzzled Harry's palm. Harry felt really bad about the unicorn. He was really very beautiful and so pure and Voldemort……….

"I hope you don't die. You are really quite beautiful and you don't deserve to die at Voldemort's hands. Hagrid will take good care of you. Well here he is. I will come to visit you in the morning okay."

Once Hagrid gave him the ok, Harry streaked back to the castle. He needed to tell Ron and Hermione a hell a lot of things. He reached the common-room and found both Ron and Hermione asleep on the couch. He woke them up and told them the entire night's happenings. They were beyond shock.

Harry couldn't sit down. He paced up and down in front of the fire. He was still shaking.

"Snape wants the stone for Voldemort... and Voldemort's waiting in the forest... and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich..."

"Stop saying the name!" said Ron in a terrified whisper, as if he thought Voldemort could hear them.

But Harry was hardly listening to him. "We have to do something. We need more proof against Snape. We have to nail him or Voldemort will be back."

"How Harry? How are we going o manage that?" It was Hermione. The dammed voice of logic and common sense, as usual. Harry needed to know why exactly was Snape doing this. Snape did behave almost evilly and hated Gryffindors, but that couldn't be the only reason that he wanted to bring Voldemort back. What could Snape's motive be? He needed to know about Snape's history or something but where could he search, hell whom could he ask. Ragnok. Yes Ragnok would perhaps help him and he had even promised to keep their exchanges secret.

"Ragnok, I will owl him and ask him to help us. We could start by trying to know a bit about Snape's history or something. Wait a second; the stone was indeed stored in that vault and perhaps Snape tried to steal it, which makes it Ragnok's business too."

Ron looked skeptical but Hermione's face told Harry that she was in complete agreement with him.

"Write the letter Harry, maybe we can get something from there." Hermione said extending a piece of parchment and a quill to Harry. Immediately Harry set about writing the letter.

_Respected Ragnok,_

_This might sound a bit crazy but I think me, well my friends and I know who tried to steal from Vault 713 in July. Not only that we also know that The Philosopher's Stone was there in that vault. The stone is currently being stored at Hogwarts. Please don't ask me how I know all this, it a complete year worth's story. The problem is that someone is trying to steal the stone from Hogwarts too now. We think that with good reason that it is one of Professors, Severus Snape. But we do not have any concrete proof against him then there is the fact that I am pretty much openly known to hate Snape. Also Professor Dumbledore has enlisted Snape's help in protecting the stone. But the problems don't end there. Till tonight we thought that Snape was trying to steal the stone to become rich or something, but that is not the case. I had detention in the Forbidden Forest tonight and the task was to search for an injured unicorn. Someone it seems has been killing unicorns and drinking their blood. I ran across that creature and it tried to attack me, I somehow managed to repel it. Firenze, a centaur came there and all but told me that the creature was Voldemort. So now we think that Snape is actually trying to steal the stone to help bring Voldemort back to life, but we can't seem to find any motive for him to do so or for that matter any concrete proof either. Can you please somehow tell us about Snape's background or something? I can't think of anything else to do. I mean if we go and accuse Snape openly there is absolutely no reason for anyone to believe three 11-year students only on some very sketchy details. Please I need your help and advice._

_Yours truly,_

_Harry Potter._

Hermione looked over the letter once and nodded. "Well let's hope he believes us and can help us in some way, but still this is no assurance that we can actually 'nail' Professor Snape or something. At best it might help us justifying his motive. I still think that we should tell Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall about it."

But Harry wasn't listening. The moment Hermione had nodded and handed over the letter he pulled on his invisibility cloak and was off to the owlery to find Hedwig. The trio spent a restless day wondering what exactly was the reply going to be. But Hedwig hadn't turned up until even at nightfall and for once Ron and Harry ended up studying for more time than Hermione's boxes had allotted. Hedwig finally turned up at breakfast the next day with all the other post. Along with Hedwig came two other owls carrying quite heavy envelopes which seemed to contain a lot of papers. Harry grabbed all the parcels and the letter and left Hedwig with his breakfast plate.

_Respected Mr. Potter,_

_I must say that you are indeed full of surprises. How you even know which vault was broken into is beyond me. However I dare say that you are right and that very vault did indeed contain the stone. While I do doubt your theory over Voldemort being involved I cannot of course refute your findings without knowing their complete basis. As far as Mr. Snape is concerned, I can imagine why you would be sure that he is trying to steal the stone._

_Mr. Snape has a rather colourful history. He was a known death-eater. After Voldemort's fall I believe he was even tried by the Wizengamot. However Chief Warlock Dumbledore personally testified that Mr. Snape indeed was a supporter of Voldemort, however much before Voldemort's fall, he had turned a spy against Voldemort. I have attached the recordings of the court proceedings for your benefit. I also have attached information about Mr. Snape that is available in the ministry domain._

_So, as to whether Mr. Snape is trying to steal the stone only he and Chief Warlock can answer and you are correct that you cannot simply go about accusing over half-baked suspicions. Whether you know it or not but the words of The Boy-who-Lived will carry a lot weight in the magical world. You asked for my advice Mr. Potter and I will tell you this please think over completely before you act anything. If your suspicions are correct whether we enter difficult times or no might depend upon your actions. _

_Yours truly,_

_Ragnok._

Harry handed over the letter to Ron and Hermione and started thinking over what he had just learned. Snape was a death-eater; if anything it sealed his suspicions about Snape. But Dumbledore trusted Snape could Dumbledore be totally wrong. He looked over at Ron and Hermione who had finished reading the letter too. It was Hermione who spoke up.

"We are back to square-one. I hate to admit it but Snape might actually not be involved."

Ron wasn't convinced. "What? You got to be kidding me. This actually proves that Snape was actually twisted enough to be a death-eater. He will go to any lengths to bring back Voldemort. How can he be not involved?"

Harry was silent for a moment. "No Ron; Remember what I had said after the broom incident, it is too straightforward a set-up. Snape might be evil but he is not foolish, he was a spy after-all wasn't he?" Harry said pointing to the letter. "If he was really trying to steal the stone three 11-years old would never ever even got a sniff of it and Dumbledore trusts him. If we can't believe even Dumbledore whom can we believe?"

Ron couldn't answer that but he did nod after a moment. "So is anyone, besides You-know-who even trying to steal the stone or were we wrong about that too?"

"Voldemort has to have inside help to steal the stone; there are no two-ways about it. But as to who is helping him, we have absolutely no idea about that now." Harry replied.

"Do we at least tell Professor Dumbledore about Voldemort being in the forest?" It was Hermione.

"Nope, once again we speculating over what Firenze said. Let's just forget the stone unless something else comes up and concentrate on the exams. Whether Snape is trying to steal the stone or no, I am pretty sure that will not miss an opportunity to fail me."

A/N: Well here is a 10k chapter. First year is almost done with now, the next chapter will be the last one. About Charlie there was is a lot of confusion as to when exactly was he in Hogwarts as if I am correct Gryffindor had lost to Slytherin the year before Harry joined and Wood already was the captain. So I simply assumed that Charlie left Hogwarts a couple of years before Harry joined.

Hope you all enjoy reading and thanks for the reviews.


	10. The Stone and pizzas

Harry never could imagine how he got through the exams with Voldemort hanging over his head like the Sword of Damocles. To top it off, he had been having shooting head-aches ever since the encounter with Voldemort. His scar had been aching continuously almost as if warning him of some impending danger. Harry had written back to Ragnok thanking him for his help and promising that he would keep his advice close to heart.

Harry spent a lot of time with the unicorn who seemed to be recovering quite well under Hagrid's care. Harry had started calling him Argentum and the unicorn had started responding to the name. Harry and he had developed quite a rapport. Surprisingly Argentum did not allow anyone besides Harry and Hagrid to touch him.

The exams had been a walk in the park for Harry, almost. Herbology and Astronomy were a bit tough but nothing that he couldn't manage. Defense was rather easy if boring and Harry's forgetful potion came out just right. Snape didn't look too happy after the exam which could only mean that all the Gryffindors had indeed passed. Professor Flitwick asked them to make a pineapple tap-dance across the table which Harry managed just fine and he even received a smile from Professor McGonagall for his snuffbox.

By far Ron and Harry's easiest exam had been History, their last paper. They just re-read all the homework pieces that they had submitted and appeared for the exam, by the end of which they were fairly certain that they were probably going to top the class in History.

It was they were coming out of the History paper that something suddenly struck Harry and he stopped in his tracks.

"What happened Harry?" Hermione asked.

Harry didn't reply for some time. "Ron, dragon-eggs are non-tradable items right?"

"Yes."

"How odd is it? Hagrid always wanted a dragon egg and he happens to meet a dragon-dealer just like that in a pub and wins the egg?" Harry finished saying and immediately started running towards Hagrid's hut.

Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up, and he was shelling peas into a large bowl.

"Hullo," he said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"

"Yes, please," said Ron, but Harry cut him off.

"No, we're in a hurry. Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

"Dunno," said Hagrid casually, "he wouldn' take his cloak off."

He saw the three of them look stunned and raised his eyebrows.

"It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head --that's the pub down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

Harry sank down next to the bowl of peas. "What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"

"Mighta come up," said Hagrid, frowning as he tried to remember.

"Yeah... he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here... He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I took after... so I told him... an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon... an' then... I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks... Let's see... yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted... but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home... So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy..."

"And did he -- did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Well -- yeah -- how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep --"

Hagrid suddenly looked horrified.

"I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" he blurted out. "Forget I said it! Hey -- where're yeh goin'?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't speak to each other at all until they came to a halt in the entrance hall, which seemed very cold and gloomy after the grounds.

"We need to find Professor Dumbledore. It's gone too far now. So far we believed that no one could go beyond Fluffy but that is not true now. That stranger had to be either Voldemort or whoever his accomplice is."

"What are you three doing inside?" It was Professor McGonagall, carrying a large pile of books.

"We want to see Professor Dumbledore," said Hermione, rather bravely, Harry and Ron thought.

"See Professor Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall repeated, as though this was a very fishy thing to want to do. "Why?"

Harry swallowed -- now what? "You wouldn't believe it if we told you Mam."

Harry immediately flinched as Professor McGonagall's nostrils flared. "Well, he is not here. He just left for London on important ministry business. So please tell me what is this all about."

Harry's heart sank. This was bad. Dumbledore wasn't here; the only wizard that Voldemort was afraid of wasn't there anymore. He took a deep breath and decided to go for it.

"We think that someone is going to try and steal the Philosopher's Stone today."

Whatever it was that Professor McGonagall was expecting it wasn't this. The stack of books that she was carrying fell from her hands.

"H….How do you know about the Stone?"

"The question is Mam, what are you going to do about it now. After, we have warned you." Harry replied.

Professor McGonagall looked stumped for a moment. "It is too well protected. Professor Dumbledore will be informed as soon as he returns. Now don't concern yourself over it and stay away from the corridor." She picked up the books and swiftly left.

Harry knew that no-one would believe them. But he expected Professor McGonagall to at least listen him out.

"Do you think she would have believed us if we had told her about Voldemort's involvement?" Ron asked.

Harry was about to reply when a cold voice interrupted him.

"What are you doing inside on a fine day like this?" It was Snape. "I hope you are not up to something Potter, Gryffindor are rock-bottom on the House Cup."

Harry wondered if someone who showed so much malice against, well everyone but Malfoy was really innocent. Suddenly inspiration struck.

"Professor." Harry called out. "Can I ask you a question?"

Snape looked as if Harry had grown an extra head or something and then surprisingly nodded.

"Do you remember the Welcoming Feast, Sir?" Snape had a look of surprise on his face which was mirrored by both Ron and Hermione. Snape nodded again so Harry continued. "Did you use legilimency on me then?"

Now, Snape looked totally dumb-struck. Harry was sure that if anything Snape surely did not expect this. Snape looked suspiciously from Ron to Hermione and back to Harry.

"What do you mean Potter?" But Harry did not answer and instead kept on looking at Snape. After a few moments, Snape broke eye-contact and answered. "No, Potter I did not."

Harry still had a blank look on his face. But his heart was actually leaping into his mouth. "Who was responsible for the broom incident?"

Now Ron and Hermione looked as if they wanted to drag Harry away. Snape however had a stony look on his face. Before Snape could answer, Harry pushed on.

"Was it Quirrel?" Now Ron and Hermione looked as if they believed that Harry had completely lost it. Snape did not reply, but the look that came over his face gave all the answers that Harry needed.

Harry spun around and started walking off. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Ron and Hermione hesitate for a moment and then they followed him. Snape looked on for a moment and then he too spun and walked off in the opposite direction. Ron and Hermione caught up with Harry a moment later and practically shoved him into the wall to stop him.

"What the hell was all that about mate?" Ron began but Harry shushed him.

"Not here. We will talk at Peeves'."

The trio reached Peeves' classroom in the Charms corridor and luckily Peeves was right there as usual changing the obscenities on the black-board.

"Peeves we need your help."

"Of course, Scarhead Peeves is always ready to help. What is Peeves doing?"

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione for a moment and then outlaid the plan. "All right Peeves. You remember the third floor corridor from where you saved us from Filch." Peeves nodded so Harry continued. "Can you please go and keep watch there for us? If someone enters the room where we were hiding will you come and tell us immediately?"

Peeves nodded. "Peeves can do that Scarhead. But where should I come to tell you?"

"We will be right here in your classroom." Harry replied. Peeves mock saluted Harry and went off.

"All right Harry, explain now." Hermione finally demanded.

Harry took a deep breath and was wondering as to how he would word the explanation.

"Ron, you remember how I had told you that I felt a sharp pain in the scar during the Welcoming Feast?" Ron nodded so Harry continued. "After the incident with Voldemort my scar has been aching in similar fashion. Whenever Snape had probed me before my scar had never hurt. I just realized that when I saw Snape. That was the only explanation for the similar aches in the scar; Voldemort was responsible for it both times."

Harry paused for a moment and let the implications of his declaration sink in. It was then that he realized what kind of a conclusion he had come to; he had just declared that Voldemort was in the Great Hall mere feet away from Professor Dumbledore.

"But how Harry, Professor Dumbledore can see through invisibility cloaks. And what was all that about Quirrel. The man can barely complete a sentence without stuttering. How can he be helping You-know-who?" Ron spit out. He clearly did not believe it, Harry looked at Hermione she had a thoughtful look on her face.

"I can't tell you how Voldemort was in the Great Hall. It has to something with Quirrel that is all I am sure about right now. Voldemort might be I don't know possessing him or something."

"How did you end up with Quirrel?" Hermione had finally asked a question.

"It was a shot in the dark. I remembered Hagrid telling me that Quirrel had spent some time away from school and came back as a stuttering and jumpy man instead of a confident one that left. Snape and I guess Professor Dumbledore suspected Quirrel too. I simply asked that question to check Snape's reaction and his face told me all I wanted to know."

The three were quiet for a few moments. Each one, thinking over the exact implications of Harry's words, they were simply enormous. If Voldemort came back it would be total chaos.

"If Professor Dumbledore doesn't turn up, what are we going to do?" Hermione asked.

Harry didn't reply. He knew exactly what he would have to do. The question was, could he risk his only friends to stop Voldemort. What if they were harmed in some way. He could never live with that. They were his only friends.

"I will go after him if Peeves comes and tells us that Quirrel has gone down the trapdoor. I can't force you guys to come. It will be ……."

"Shut-up Harry we will come with you. We are in this together." Hermione said.

"Yeah mate, besides whom do you think we are Slytherins, to run away from a friend?"

Harry smiled for the first time in a couple of hours. Trust Ron to bring in Gryffindor pride and courage everywhere.

"Well we will have to be prepared to face the fact that we might have to actually go in. I will get the invisibility cloak and something to play music. I don't fancy facing an awake Fluffy. Hermione stay here in case Peeves comes back and Ron would you please go and get some food from the kitchens. It might actually be a totally false alarm you know."

Ron and Hermione nodded so Harry got up and started the walk to the Gryffindor common-room and Ron went off to the kitchens. Harry retrieved the invisibility cloak and the flute that Hagrid had given him for Christmas and went back to Peeves' classroom. Ron too had returned by then and by the looks of it got enough food to last them a couple of days.

"What? The house elves were rather generous, I can't help that." Ron said in self-defence as Harry and Hermione both started laughing.

They waited nervously in the classroom waiting for Peeves to show-up. Hermione actually got out her defence book and started reciting from it. Finally 10-minutes past curfew, Peeves showed up.

"Scarhead you were being right. Someone, Peeves cannot tell who went into that door five minutes ago."

Harry, Ron and Hermione were on their feet in moments.

"All right Peeves thanks for that, we really owe you for that." Peeves only smiled awkwardly and sailed through the blackboard. "Lets go guys."

The three got under the invisibility cloak and slowly started to make their way towards the third floor corridor. They reached the door and found it open and a harp playing magically in the background. Fluffy was out like light.

"Last chance to back….." Harry began but stopped after getting a 'look' from Hermione. They dumped their bags outside the door and Harry stuffed the invisibility cloak into his bag. They reached the trapdoor and opened it. It was completely dark in there.

"I will go in first. If I somehow don't make it don't come after me, run off to the owlery and send Hedwig to Professor Dumbledore." Ron and Hermione were clearly not pleased at that but they nodded anyways.

Harry took a deep breath and hoped that this wouldn't be the last decision of his life jumped in. A couple of seconds later his fall was broken by something soft. Not really in a trusting mood, Harry jumped away from the soft landing. It was actually a creeper, Harry couldn't recognize it but he didn't like the way it kept on moving around.

"All right guys, jump in. It is a soft landing but the moment you land get up and get off these vines, I don't like them very much." Harry hollered up to the trapdoor. A moment later Hermione jumped down and immediately rolled off the vines which had began moving again, almost as if trying to catch Hermione.

"Any idea about what it is Hermione?" Harry asked.

Hermione was silent for a few moments and then nodded. "It's Devil's Snare, it strangles a victim."

"Well it's at least not fast to catch a victim. Jump down Ron but once again roll off the vines immediately."

Ron jumped down and tried to stand-up but the vines were quicker this time and managed to get a hold of Ron's legs. Harry watched in horror as Ron fought to pull the plant off him, but the more he strained against it, the tighter and faster did it wound around him.

"Stop moving Ron! It's the Devils' Snare." Hermione ordered her voice clearly panicky.

"Oh, I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help," snarled Ron, leaning back, trying to stop the plant from curling around his neck.

"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" said Hermione.

"Well, hurry up, I can't breathe!" Ron gasped, wrestling with it as it curled around his chest.

"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare... what did Professor Sprout say? – it likes the dark and the damp."

"Incendio!" No sooner had Hermione pronounced that, Harry whipped out his wand and cast the fire spell at the plant. Almost as soon as the fire struck the plant the vines began retreating and Ron broke free of the plant.

"Lucky you like Herbology Hermione and damn lucky Harry likes to read-up on charms not in the syllabus." Ron pronounced.

"Well let's keep moving. I hate to say this, but Professor Sprout's hurdle is bound to be the easiest." Harry said as he took another look at the Devil's Snare and then moved on through the only way forward.

They were traveling for almost 10minutes now and the only thing they heard was the dripping of water and the echoes of their footsteps. Suddenly Harry heard a soft rustling and clinking sound coming from up ahead. They reached the end of the passageway and saw before them a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above them. It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door.

"They are all keys." Harry suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Ron asked as he tried the door but it did not budge even after he tried the 'Alohomora'-charm.

Harry spotted some brooms in a corner and everything became perfectly clear. "Grab a broom, the keys will probably fly away or something. Since Quirrel must have already come through here we are probably looking for a key with damaged wings."

Harry and Ron mounted the brooms began encircling the chamber. No sooner had they started flying the winged-keys started flying around too. The keys simply flew at the eye-level of the person who was flying the highest. It made looking around almost impossible. But Harry wasn't the youngest seeker for nothing. The 'charm' on the keys was brilliant but there was one small mistake. They were all flying at the same speed. Within two minutes Harry had spotted and caught the slow-flying key.

No sooner had they opened the door the key flew back rather awkwardly now. The next chamber was completely dark. After all three had stepped into it lights came on and a giant chess-set was revealed.

"Professor McGonagall." Harry said. "Well Ron looks like it's time to see whether you can defeat McGonagall's chess set."

Ron nodded grimly. Ron took the place of a black knight and Harry and Hermione were ordered to be a bishop and a castle. Ron started to direct the black pieces. They moved silently wherever he sent them. Harry's knees were trembling. What if they lost?

"Harry -- move diagonally four squares to the right."

Their first real shock came when their other knight was taken. The white queen smashed him to the floor and dragged him off the board, where he lay quite still, facedown.

"Had to let that happen," said Ron, looking shaken. "Leaves you free to take that bishop, Hermione, go on."

Every time one of their men was lost, the white pieces showed no mercy. Soon there was a huddle of limp black players slumped along the wall. Twice, Ron only just noticed in time that Harry and Hermione were in danger. He himself darted around the board, taking almost as many white pieces as they had lost black ones.

"We're nearly there," he muttered suddenly. "Let me think let me think..."

The white queen turned her blank face toward him.

"Yes..." said Ron softly, "It's the only way... I've got to be taken and then Harry can checkmate the king."

"NO!" Both Harry and Hermione cried out.

"I had promised myself that I wouldn't allow you two to be harmed Ron. There has to be another way. C'mon."

Ron didn't reply instead he simply stepped forward. The white queen pounced on him and struck Ron hard on the head with her stone arm. Ron crumbled to the floor. He looked completely knocked out but at least he was breathing.

Harry moved three spaces to the left and stopped before the white king who removed his crown and threw it at Harry's feet and the chessmen parted leaving the door open for Harry and Hermione. Throwing one last look at Ron, the two rushed up the passageway. Harry mentally counted out the Professor's who had participated so far. Only Quirrel and Snape were left besides Professor Dumbledore.

They had reached another door.

"All right?" Harry whispered.

"Go on."

Harry pushed it open. A disgusting smell filled their nostrils, making both of them pull their robes up over their noses. Eyes watering, they saw, flat on the floor in front of them, a troll even larger than the one they had tackled, out cold with a bloody lump on its head.

"I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one," Harry whispered as they stepped carefully over one of its massive legs. "Come on, I can't breathe."

He pulled open the next door, both of them hardly daring to look at what came next - but there was nothing very frightening in here, just a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line.

"Snape's." Harry said and then stepped over the threshold. No sooner had both Harry and Hermione stepped over a fire sprang up behind them in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onward. They were trapped.

Hermione stepped forward and grabbed a piece of paper which had a riddle on it. But Harry wasn't looking at the riddle but completely concentrating on the bottles.

"Hermione, can you figure out the riddle?"

Hermione read over it once again. "I think so."

"Good, decide which one takes you back and then go back and wake-up Ron. Take the brooms from the keys' chamber and get out. Then get to the owlery and send Hedwig to Professor Dumbledore and then tell Professor McGonagall about this and ask her to somehow seal Fluffy's chamber."

"What…..wait. How do you know which bottle can take you through?" Hermione asked almost sounding insulted that Harry had figured out the puzzle before her.

"Snape is smart but not smart enough. He has filled all the bottles to the brim and only one is standing almost empty. Also, when you go back take that bottle with you. If Quirrel is indeed successful it might help in trapping him."

"But….what if you need to return?" Hermione asked in a shaky voice.

"It's a one-way ticket down there Hermione;" Harry said pointing towards the door leading forward. "I am no match for Quirrel and if Voldemort is there, it's game-up."

Hermione was clearly about to cry. "A…..t At least let me figure out the puzzle. It is a muggle puzzle I have read it in a book somewhere. That way we can be sure."

Harry nodded so Hermione concentrated on the puzzle and after a few minutes she had a triumphant gleam on her face.

"Got it," she said. "You are right the smallest bottle will get us through the black fire -- toward the Stone and that rounded bottle at the end of the line will get us back."

"Drink up Hermione and take back the damn bottle."

Hermione's lip trembled, and she suddenly dashed at Harry and threw her arms around him.

"Hermione!"

"Harry -- you're a great wizard, you know."

"Yeah I know. Now don't give me a bighead, Snape would love it."

Hermione actually managed to smile at that and then hugged Harry again. She then gulped from the bottle and went through the purple fire with the bottle. Harry took a deep breath and wondered if he would ever see her and Ron again. But there were bigger things at stake here; if Voldemort got the stone seeing them again wouldn't matter. Ginny. Harry suddenly remembered her, no he couldn't die. He hadn't even spoken to her yet. Shaking his head, he grabbed the bottle and gulped the potion in it and bracing himself for anything stepped through the fire.

The chamber was rather small as compared to the others and standing in one corner looking into a mirror was Quirrel.

"Hello Quirrel." Harry called out and Quirrel jumped. Harry thought that Quirrel must have been sleeping to not have noticed the fire. Quirrel turned around and Harry noticed that he wasn't looking like the nervous, unsure man they had all gotten used to.

"Potter." Quirrel said in an uncharacteristically loud and confident voice. "I was wondering whether I would see you here today."

"Well for someone expecting company while trying to steal you were mighty oblivious towards the door."

Quirrel's face crunched-up in pain. "I was concentrating Potter. Dumbledore is away and you are hardly a match for me." Barely finishing the sentence Quirrel snapped his fingers. Ropes sprang out of thin air and were about to wrap around themselves tightly around Harry when simply out of instincts, Harry jumped away and the ropes fell to the ground.

"You need to be quicker Quirrel. Don't you know, I caught a snitch within 30-seconds of the whistle?"

Quirrel had a look of total fear on his face now. Harry wondered why in the world he didn't try that again or why the hell was Quirrel looking afraid? Frankly, Harry had got rather lucky the first time.

"By the way, where the hell is Voldemort anyways? I know that he was in the Great Hall during the Welcoming Feast."

Quirrel had completely frozen now. It was almost as if someone had petrified him. For a moment Harry wondered, if he could actually whip out his wand and use the full body bind on him. But he threw away that idea, Quirrel could somehow do wandless magic, he was absolutely no match for that.

Suddenly a high voice spoke out somewhere from around Quirrel.

"Let me speak to him face to face----"

"Master you are not strong enough----."

Suddenly Harry realized where Voldemort had been. He was actually possessing Quirrel.

"I am strong enough for this."

Quirrel turned around and began unwinding his turban. Harry froze but only for a second. He took the small time-window to take a look at the mirror and he froze. He saw his reflection, pale and scared-looking at first. But a moment later, the reflection smiled at him. It put its hand into its pocket and pulled out a blood-red stone. It winked and put the Stone back in its pocket -- and as it did so, Harry felt something heavy drop into his real pocket. Somehow -- incredibly -- he'd gotten the Stone.

Suddenly Harry realized that Quirrel had finished unwinding the turban and had turned around and Harry was now facing the most terrible face Harry had ever seen. It was chalk white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake.

"Harry Potter..." it whispered.

"See what I have become?" the face said. "Mere shadow and vapour ... I have form only when I can share another's body... but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds... Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these past weeks... and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own... Now... why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket?"

Swiftly Harry realized what was transpiring. Voldemort could do legilimency too and he knew that Harry had the stone. He blurted out the first word that came out to his mind.

"What the hell is the problem with you Death-Eaters? First damn Snape and now you; can't you keep your legilimency to yourselves?"

Unless Harry was mistaken, Voldemort actually looked impressed. "You seem to be a worthy adversary Harry Potter, why don't you join me. The two of us, together can rule the world."

"Gee thanks for the offer, but I have a Quidditch match to play in a couple of days and I don't think that Professor McGonagall would be too pleased if I joined your sorry band, so thanks but no thanks."

"Don't be a fool, Harry Potter;" snarled Voldemort. Better save your own life and join me...or you'll meet the same end as your parents... They died begging me for mercy..."

"Yeah sure and Professor Dumbledore and you were the best of mates." Harry calmly replied back.

For one moment a shadow passed over Voldemort's face. "Yes boy, your parents were brave... I killed your father first; and he put up a courageous fight... but your mother needn't have died... she was trying to protect you... Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain."

Harry froze. Voldemort had given him more information about his parents than anyone else. But he ignored that feeling. He realized that Quirrel was walking backwards towards him and subconsciously he too was walking backwards and now was very close to the black fire.

"No one ever dies in vain Voldemort. Even if the two of you, if I can call you 'two' manage to kill me today, it won't be in vain." Harry suddenly whipped out his wand and got out the blood red stone and levitated the stone vertically out of his hand first and then moved it horizontally into the black fire.

"NO!" Voldemort screamed. "STOP him Quirrel."

But it was too late, by the time Quirrel managed to turn around and pull out his wand, the magical fire had done it's job. A second later a huge explosion rocked the chamber and Harry was thrown back into the chamber. Harry felt at least a couple of bones in the legs break and a lot of ribs crack. His head was hurting like hell too.

Harry was surprised that he was still conscious though totally dazed and he was lying face down. He groaned and then turned around, only to see Quirrel standing over him with his wand pointed dead at Harry's throat. Great Harry thought, he didn't even have a wand at least he couldn't feel it anywhere on his body nor was it visible.

"I told you Voldemort no one dies in vain. No one with their heart in the right place that is."

Voldemort's face laughed a high cackle. "I have many ways to return Potter."

Harry watched as Quirrel flinched when Voldemort laughed. Seizing the opportunity and ignoring the pain in his body, Harry swiftly raised his right hand and grabbed the wand out of Quirrel's hand and did the only thing that made any sense to him. He loudly snapped it.

"Sorry about that Quirrel but I don't think a duel between a Professor and a First year student was fair."

"KILL him Quirrel!" Voldemort was clearly furious now.

"B….But how master, I don't have my wand—"

"Strangle him you fool……he's an 11-year old."

Quirrel stepped forward and grabbed Harry by the neck. The moment Quirrel's hand touched Harry's skin, Harry experienced an enormous spike of pain in the scar that practically knocked him out. But it went away within a moment as Quirrel screamed and yanked his hands away as if burnt. Through the haze he saw that Quirrel's hands were indeed burnt.

"I can't touch him master without….." began Quirrel but Harry did not give him any opportunity to complete the sentence. He somehow managed to jump up and latched on to Quirrel's neck. The pain that Harry felt was beyond measure. He felt as if his head would burst any moment. Quirrel's screams were actually hurting his ears in addition to all the other physical pain that he was feeling.

Suddenly Quirrel screamed out even louder if that was even possible. Harry felt Quirrel's body trembling and shivering tremendously and then Quirrel stopped screaming and shaking underneath Harry. Harry stopped feeling the pain though his head was throbbing like mad. On an impulse Harry felt the back of Quirrel's head, it was smooth again. Voldemort had left Quirrel to die and fled barely alive, again. Harry pushed himself away from Quirrel and smiled to himself. He felt his eyes closing involuntarily; well if he was going to die he wanted to die smiling. A moment later he felt darkness overcome him.

Harry felt something. It was a smell. It was the smell of clean linen. That's interesting he thought, what in the world does clean linen have to do with being dead. Then he heard voices. Voices, which were familiar and also unfamiliar to Harry.

"Is he going to make it Albus?" It was a feminine voice but somehow Harry couldn't place it due to the tone. It was as if he had never heard that tone.

"Poppy says it will take three or four days, but he will make it." Harry had heard the voice but again couldn't place it.

"He warned me but I simply refused to believe him." It was the familiar yet unfamiliar feminine voice again.

"No one would have. He was not supposed to know about the stone leave alone the fact that someone was trying to steal it." The familiar male voice again.

"At least Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger emerged perfectly all right out of all this. But if something happens to him….." The caring and compassionate feminine voice again. Harry let out a mental sigh of relief; Ron and Hermione were all-right.

"Nothing is going to happen to him Minerva." The male again.

"What about the stone Albus?" Harry had never heard that voice before; it sounded old yet was very rich and certainly belonged to a male.

"I have no idea, Nicolas. The mirror does not contain it anymore so Harry must have got it out; I doubt that Quirrel could have got it out. Just as I entered I saw the black shadow which I can only presume to be Voldemort run away, so he doesn't have the stone either." Harry knew the voice. It was Professor Dumbledore's voice.

He was not dead. Professor Dumbledore couldn't die after-all. He was alive. Voldemort had run away. Harry suddenly found everything rather funny and started laughing. Laughing out loud. Four people swung towards Harry. Harry almost felt their gazes and tried to open his eyes. The light around him was blinding and he shut his eyes again. It was silent around him. He slowly started opening his eyes millimeter by millimeter and he could open his eyes completely now. He groaned loudly, his head was still throbbing and so were his legs.

His vision was blurred. Somebody put his glasses on and put them on. He looked around and saw Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall an old lady and an old man all staring at him as if he was some kind of a miracle. Nobody spoke anything and Harry was wondering who the other two persons were, they did look a couple the way they were holding hands. Professor McGonagall suddenly spoke up.

"You are not supposed to be awake, Mr. Potter." Harry heard the tone of her voice and realized that the caring and compassionate and kind feminine voice that he had heard earlier was actually Professor McGonagall and burst out laughing.

Everyone around the bed looked taken aback. Professor McGonagall spoke up again. "What exactly was funny in my question Mr. Potter?"

Harry laughed even loudly at that. "Do you know Mam how strange it is to hear you speak in a kind and compassionate manner? For a moment I thought that I was going mad or something." Harry finished and started laughing again only this time Professor Dumbledore and the old couple joined in too and after a moment Professor McGonagall smiled a bit too.

"Well Harry, I am quite glad that your sense of humour hasn't suffered any damage but how are you feeling physically?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

Harry did no reply immediately but looked at the old couple and suddenly remembered Professor Dumbledore addressing the man as Nicolas. They were the Flamels.

"Oh shit!" Harry barely realized that he had just sworn in front of his Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress. "Can you make the stone again? I think I destroyed it when I held it in that black fire thing." Harry said addressing the Flamels.

The Flamels looked stunned at first, looked at each other and smiled. It was Nicolas Flamel who spoke up. "I see what you mean Albus; you really don't miss a trick do you Mr. Potter?"

"Er……I do miss a few tricks Sir, but aren't you angry or something that I destroyed the stone?"

"You do miss a few tricks Mr. Potter? Well lets hear what exactly did you miss?" Nicolas Flamel pushed.

To say that Harry was surprised would be quite an understatement. Here he was thinking that the Flamels would be mad at him for destroying the stone but Nicolas Flamel was all enthusiastic about knowing what Harry had done wrong.

"Er….I….we thought at first that Snape….." Harry began.

"Professor Snape, Harry." Professor Dumbledore interrupted.

"Er, yes him was trying to steal the stone and trying to kill me but we were wrong."

"Why did you change your mind Mr. Potter?" Nicolas Flamel pushed on.

Harry wondered whether he should tell them all about death-eater Snape but he decided not to. "It was all too easy. Sna…..Professor Snape is evil but not foolish, if he really was after the stone I don't think we would have ever found out. Though he does need to stop borrowing puzzles straight from muggle books not to mention stop filling all bottles to the brim."

Harry saw Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel exchange a smile. Professor Dumbledore turned to him and asked him. "If you don't mind telling us Harry, would you please tell us what happened after you went into the mirror-chamber?"

Harry nodded and told them all the events. Leaving out the specifics of the conversations, though. Suddenly he remembered something. "Why couldn't Quirrel touch me?"

Dumbledore looked at Harry for a moment before answering. "Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrel, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good."

Suddenly the four occupants of the room besides Harry became very interested in the floor, giving Harry enough time to rub the tears off. But Harry wasn't finished, "Sir why did Voldemort want to kill me when I was a mere child?"

Dumbledore looked very gravely at Harry. "I cannot tell you that Harry not today. I don't want to and I won't lie to you, but the truth is a beautiful thing and it needs to be handled very carefully."

Harry was not happy but he knew that arguing would get him nowhere. "Can I use that line next time I get into trouble with the school-rules?"

"No." Professor McGonagall was unbelievably quick to the draw. Harry smiled and Professor Dumbledore and the Flamels didn't shy away from laughing.

"Well, it was worth a try." Harry said. "But sincerely Sir and Mam aren't you mad about the stone, I mean won't you die without it?" Harry asked the Flamels.

"We will, Harry." It was Perenelle Flamel who spoke up for the first time. "But it's time to move on now. To someone so young dying might sound like an immense occurrence but really it is nothing but a pathway to the next big adventure."

Harry was quiet for sometime. He was surprised that someone could take death so easily and with such grace. "I don't really like the fact that I am personally responsible for the deaths of three people before I am even 12." Harry said in a very soft voice.

"Don't feel guilty at all Harry. Quirrel had written his own death sentence when he allowed Voldemort to possess him. Quirrel would have died the moment Voldemort left his body. "Professor Dumbledore replied.

"If it makes you feel any better Mr. Potter, I can indeed make another Philosopher's Stone. It is our choice to move-on now. Living for more than half a millennium can be quite tiring." Nicolas Flamel added.

"Oh." Harry was silent for a while. "Would Voldemort have died if he had not left Quirrel's body?"

"Perhaps yes, perhaps no Harry. Perhaps you would have died along with him if you had held on for so long. No one can tell for sure." Dumbledore replied.

"Well I couldn't die today; I still have to win the Quidditch Cup, right?" Harry looked up expectantly at Professor McGonagall trying hard to ignore the throbbing pain in his head and legs.

Professor McGonagall only smiled. "I take back my words Harry."

"Which words?"

"You are a perfect combination of both your mother and father." Professor McGonagall replied. Harry did not reply but the four did take another long look at the floor.

"Well, Mr. Potter it has been an absolute pleasure meeting you. I can't say that we might meet again however please remember that we couldn't be more glad that the stone was indeed destroyed and kept out of Voldemort's hands." Nicolas Flamel said extending his hand and Harry shook it after a moment and then shook hands with Perenelle Flamel too.

"Albus we will wait for you in the office if you do not mind." Nicolas Flamel said and when Professor Dumbledore nodded the Flamels left the infirmary.

Professor Dumbledore exchanged a look with Professor McGonagall and then looked at Harry. "Harry, I must admit that I have never been more proud of any students in all my time at Hogwarts. Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger and yourself managed to tackle obstacles that were meant to be impossible to tackle for fully qualified wizards. The three of you went after it even though you were completely aware of all the dangers associated dangers which I was not aware of myself. All I can say is, 'Well done' and "I am sorry'. I totally failed to protect you; I was not even in the same country when you needed me."

"Oh, don't worry. I didn't tell you about Voldemort in the forest either. Let's call it even Sir."

Professor Dumbledore only smiled at that. "Well Harry I need to get going, knowing Madame Pomfrey I dare say I will be seeing you at the Leaving Feast."

Professor Dumbledore smiled and left the infirmary leaving Harry alone with Professor McGonagall. Harry wondered where exactly was this conversation going to go ahead, he had a feeling that it was going to be another set of apologies.

"I am extremely sorry too Harry. After knowing you for almost a year, I should have at least heard you out. I ……"

"Don't Mam; I will go mad if you continue in that apologetic tone for another moment." Harry replied and Professor McGonagall actually smiled at that again.

"Well then Mr. Potter I will leave now and allow Madame Pomfrey to take care of you. Good Night, well good-day actually."

Harry watched Professor McGonagall leave and waited for Madame Pomfrey to turn up. He had a feeling that she wasn't going to be too pleased about the whole 'thing'. It really had been quite a thing. Thinking about it, he realized that he had got the best deal possible. The stone was destroyed, Voldemort was back to wherever he haunted, Ron and Hermione were alive and well and he himself was alive if a bit beaten-up. Yeah the best deal possible. Now only if he somehow got to play in the last Quidditch match of the season.

"Mr. Potter how exactly did you wake up, you shouldn't have done that for quite some time?" Madame Pomfrey had arrived.

"I think the Professors were talking a bit loudly, that woke me up." Harry replied playfully.

Madame Pomfrey only harrumphed at that. "You really like the infirmary don't you, Mr. Potter?"

"I like being around a seer, maybe some seer-qualities might rub off on me. That would be nice." Harry replied without missing a beat.

"Very funny, Mr. Potter now please use that mouth to take this sleeping potion and a blood replenishing potion."

"No problem, Mam." Harry was quite glad to take the sleeping potion actually. He doubted that he would ever be able to sleep with the headache. No sooner had he gulped down the potion that he felt his eyes close and sleep overcame him within seconds. When Harry woke up next it was dark in the infirmary. It was clearly night-time. The pain in Harry's head had subsided quite a bit and was now just a dull throb returning after a few minutes. His legs felt completely fine if a bit stiff. Harry still felt tired so he simply rolled over and once again fell into a deep sleep.

The next time Harry woke there were voices around him.

"Stop eating the chocolates Ron, they are meant for Harry." A bossy voice was ordering someone around.

"Well he is asleep isn't he? Besides it's not like he's going to mind it or something." It was Ron and the bossy voice had to be Hermione. Harry smiled inwardly and opened his eyes.

"Yeah, I don't like chocolates too much anyways."

"HARRY! You are awake." Hermione practically screamed.

"Nah, he is sleep-talking." Ron replied mischievously.

"Ha-ha, how are you feeling Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Would you mind giving me my glasses?" Harry asked and Ron handed him his glasses. Harry slipped them on and looked around. Ron and Hermione were sitting on both sides of his bed and around the bed was, what looked like half the candy-shop.

"How are you guys doing? And what is, with all the candy?"

"Well you know, it is supposed to be a secret as to why you are in the infirmary. So obviously, each and every Hogwarts' student knows that you stopped Quirrel from stealing something very, very, very valuable that Dumbledore was hiding. You are a hero. Just a real-life hero now instead of a hero about whom everyone had read in storybooks." Hermione replied.

"So the chocolates are tokens of appreciation from a lot of people." Ron finished.

"Great just what I need more attention. I would love to see Snape's face right now though. But what about you guys? I couldn't have done it without you." Harry said.

"Oh don't worry we got chocolates too, just not as much as you. You almost lost your life after all. Though I got to accept, having people continuously staring and pointing at you is really unnerving." Ron replied. Harry was quite surprised. He had thought that Ron would be jealous but he was being perfectly happy about everything.

"What about the match?" Harry asked. Ron and Hermione exchanged uncomfortable looks.

"It's in an hour and a half Harry. But we have no seeker. Nobody wanted to play in your stead." Hermione replied rather quietly.

"Ron get my Quidditch robes and the broom….."

"NO Harry, Madame Pomfrey has not cleared you to play. You have barely woken up." Hermione interrupted.

"Ron my broom, invisibility cloak and robes. Do you want us to win or not?" Ron took one look at Hermione, but Gryffindor winning preceded everything and he set off towards the tower. "And Hermione I feel perfectly all-right. I am going to play. I am not going to allow Voldemort to disrupt my normal life."

Hermione didn't look convinced at all and spent the next ten minutes trying to convince Harry not to play.

"C'mon Hermione I really am perfectly all-right. Madame Pomfrey had said that I wouldn't wake up for three or four days but I was up within three hours." But that was obviously a very wrong thing to say.

"Harry! How can you be so irresponsible; I will not allow you to play. What if something happens to you in the air?"

"Hermione are you going to report me?"

Hermione's face showed a huge internal battle raging. "You know that I won't."

"Then cheer up and lets go and win a match."

Ron returned a minute later. Luckily he had returned under the invisibility cloak so Madame Pomfrey's suspicions were not drawn. Harry grabbed the robes and Hermione went outside the covers to allow Harry to put them on.

A moment later Harry was standing by the window. "Okay guys return the invisibility cloak and then proceed to the stadium. There's still a whole hour for the match so no one should see me go. Don't mention me playing to anyone, not even Wood." Harry told them and then simply jumped out of the infirmary window mounting the broom as he fell. A second later he was in the air and dashing off towards the Quidditch pitch.

There were a few students heading towards the pitch, so Harry increased his altitude. Harry knew that even though his legs might not be quite ready to walk again, his body was sure ready to fly again. He reached the stadium and dived towards the dressing rooms. Within a few minutes he was in the Gryffindor dressing rooms waiting for the team to arrive. Harry took the opportunity to take a shower. The shower really refreshed him and now he was sure that he was ready to face a grueling match of Quidditch.

Half an hour before the match the remaining Gryffindor Quidditch team arrived in the dressing room. All with rather morose and pessimistic looks on their faces. The six had just entered the room when Harry began.

"Why the long faces guys? We are a damn good team. We have a brilliant keeper-captain. Three un-chasable chasers and a pair of human bludgers who are pretty good with the bloody bludgers. We are good guys and we are going to win so let's see some passion and excitement and craziness guys. Lets do it."

No one spoke for a few moments. Everyone was staring at Harry with wonder in their eyes and wonder on their faces. They were still standing on the threshold of the dressing room. Finally the twins were the ones who recovered first.

"Your speech is better than Wood's, you got the job next year." That was all that was needed and everyone started laughing and Wood rushed to Harry and gave him a thundering back-slap.

"How did you get out of the infirmary? Madame Pomfrey said that……." Angelina began.

"Yeah, she also predicted that I would be knocked out for 3 or 4 days but I was up within 3 hours."

"Yes good for us…….I mean you." Wood began. "Well guys we have got a great chance now. Gryffindor hasn't won since Charlie left but this is our chance to win. We have our seeker back with us and it is going to be an absolutely brilliant match now. A brilliant match that we have to win. The Ravenclaws won't be expecting us to field a seeker so just like the first match we will have the element of surprise working for us. Girls get in a few goals before the Ravenclaws recover. Let's go out there and win." Wood finished and the entire team cheered.

Ten minutes before the start of the match, the Gryffindor team was lined up in the tunnel. The twins rounded off on Harry. "Do we get to know the whole story?"

"Can you handle the whole story?" The twins nodded. "Well I will tell you the moment Madame Pomfrey discharges me from the infirmary."

"Whoa…….you snuck out from Hospital Wing little Harrikins…..got to hand it to you really play with fire and get away with it." The twins exclaimed.

Harry only laughed as he heard Lee announcing the teams. Ravenclaw was the first one to be presented and they were greeted with an enthusiastic cheer.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, as you all know we have a depleted Gryffindor team playing without a seeker today and I present Wood the keeper and Captain and three chasers Bell, Johnson and Spinnet. The beaters the two and only two the Weasley twins."

Great applause greeted the Gryffindors as the entire Gryffindor house was out to show their support to the team.

"A…..And what do we have here? Harry Potter has taken his place right next to the Ravenclaw seeker. Ladies and Gentlemen we have a match on our hands. Whuu hu Harry is playing and Gryffindor has a seeker. The cup is ours…."Lee couldn't stop himself.

"Jordan you are supposed to be unbiased." Professor McGonagall tried to correct him as she looked furious making Harry wonder if that was because of Lee or due to him being on the field.

Madame Hooch blew the whistle and the teams were off into the air to a loud roar from the crowd and an even louder roar from Lee on the magical microphone. As usual Harry tuned out the commentary as he flew into the air. Harry flew straight over the pitch and got into his usual position overlooking the entire pitch. No sooner had he started circling the pitch, the Ravenclaw seeker Alvin, Harry couldn't remember his last name was right onto his tail.

Harry increased his altitude a bit and Alvin immediately increased his altitude to be practically next to Harry. Harry increased his speed but Alvin was with him within a few moments again. Harry was quickly getting irritated with the Ravenclaw seeker. Alvin's strategy seemed straight-forward; 'let Harry do all the work and he would simply follow Harry around'.

Harry also realized that Alvin clearly had a faster broom. It looked like a Nimbus but didn't have a number on its side like Harry's. Must be a prototype or something Harry thought. He had to do something, if it came to a sprint for the snitch Harry would probably end up losing. Alvin needed to be taken out of the equation or at least be made wary of following Harry.

Harry encircled the stadium once and inspiration struck, 'once again'. Harry faked a look of concentration and streaked from high up in the air towards the staff box. Alvin started following him straightaway. Harry heard Lee mention something about the seekers seeing the snitch and as it happened, the entire stadium including the players immediately had their sights on the seekers.

But Harry had not seen the snitch. He was faking it. He continued heading towards the staff box and Alvin was right on his tail. Gradually Harry decreased his speed a bit. Alvin was almost half-way ahead. They were almost to the staff box and the speed was really dangerous when Harry extended his hand. Alvin was completely surprised now, he couldn't see the snitch but Harry had indeed extended his hands. The moment of confusion and the lack of concentration cost him dear.

Harry was faking with his hands but his sight was set straight on the approaching staff-box. Barely a moment before he crashed into the staff box, Harry yanked his broom up and shot clean of the box and back into the air.

The same couldn't be said about Alvin. His confusion over not spotting the snitch that Harry had extended his hands to catch ensured that he never saw Harry's next maneuver nor did he see the fast approaching staff box. A moment after Harry had streaked back into the air, Alvin crashed straight into the staff-box's seats with a loud crunching sound. Most of the Professors had luckily vacated their seats a few moments before the crash but the same couldn't be said about Alvin. He looked totally dazed and could barely stand up.

Suddenly Harry didn't feel so great about getting rid of him but hell, Alvin had been the one insisting on following Harry around everywhere instead of doing some work himself. Harry started encircling the pitch again. Harry heard Jordan commenting on the move that he had just pulled.

"Bloody Hell that is an International move, I can't even remember it's name and 11 year old Harry Potter has pulled it off without breaking a sweat. Whoa Merlin! He is damn good. Ha-ha the Ravenclaw seeker is out of action; that will teach him not to simply follow around Harry Potter." Lee could hardly control himself and Professor McGonagall was over in the staff-box overseeing Alvin's extraction from all the wood.

Harry smiled as he saw the scoreboard which read, 30-0 for Gryffindor. The Ravenclaws were clearly not at their best after seeing their seeker being beaten up within the first couple of minutes of the game. The Gryffindor chasers were unrelenting and whenever an occasional Ravenclaw chaser got close enough to the goal, Wood kept it away. Half an hour into the game and the score was 90-0 for Gryffindor. The Gryffindors knew that the Cup was theirs, especially with only one seeker in the air but the snitch still had to be caught.

40-minutes into the game, Harry saw a golden shine, from near the middle of the pitch. Harry streaked towards the centre of the pitch and very comfortably caught the snitch. The match was over and even as Madame Hooch blew the whistle, the entire Gryffindor team was heading straight towards their seeker. Wood was clearly and unabashedly crying his heart out. The twins actually had a smile on their face which was neither mischievous nor was it deceiving, it was the first genuine, happy smile that Harry had seen on the twins' faces. Harry couldn't quite make out Angelina's face under all her hair which was blowing in her face. Katie and Alicia both had tears in their eyes and were smiling at the same time. Harry had never felt this happy ever. They had won the Quidditch Cup against a hell a lot of obstacles beginning from a jinxed broom, to an unfair referee to the seeker being hospitalized. Yes, it was a victory worth savouring for life.

After a midair group hug that lasted for quite sometime, the teary-eyed Gryffindor team headed over towards the staff-box or rather what was left of the staff-box. Professor Dumbledore stood there with the gigantic, glittering Quidditch Cup held in his hands. Wood went over to him and Professor Dumbledore handed over the Cup to him and the Gryffindors in the crowd burst into the loudest cheer that Harry had heard on the Quidditch pitch. Wood held up the Cup in the air and then passed it to the twins who handled it literally as if they were handling a small child. They kissed it and handed it to the girls who too kissed it one by one. Finally Angelina passed the Cup to Harry.

Harry held it in his hands and knew that it was by far the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, next to Ginny of course. Harry cursed internally as he thought of Ginny, she would be in Hogwarts next year he would see her soon but he shook those thoughts away as he heard Wood calling him.

"Hey, Harry hand over the Cup to Professor McGonagall."

"What? Why me?" Harry asked nervously.

""You were undisputedly the best player that the team had that's why, now go hand over the beautiful lady to Professor McGonagall." Wood replied.

Harry clutched the Cup in one hand and mounted his broom. "Grab a broom Mam. It's the Quidditch cup after all it's only fair that I hand it over to you in the air." Harry didn't give her a chance to reply instead flew right over to the spot where all the Gryffindors had assembled on the pitch.

Professor McGonagall looked on nervously to Harry's great surprise. But then Wood mounted his broom and signaled her sit behind him. She looked unsure for a moment but then mounted the broom and sat down behind Wood. Wood immediately flew over to Harry and the rest of the team followed them like a guard of honour.

"I hope the Cup remains with you for a lot of years Mam." Harry said as he handed over the Cup to Professor McGonagall.

She smiled genuinely as she took the Cup from Harry's hands and actually raised it too, leading to more cheers from the assembled Gryffindors. "Mr. Potter we are going to talk about you running away from the infirmary mind you." She warned.

Harry only smiled and saluted her as he flew down to meet up with Ron and Hermione. The party in the Gryffindor Common room lasted practically all night. Even Percy did not have the heart to stop anyone from celebrating. There was enough food in the common room for an entire Army. Ron had indeed managed to convince the elves that 'Scarhead' hadn't eaten for days and was very hungry and they had supplied literally tons of food. Madame Pomfrey had actually come to the Common room to get Harry to return to the infirmary but when she saw him hogging out on innumerable types of food, she decided that he was fit enough.

Professor McGonagall too had come to the common room as a cat of course, the next day when not a single Gryffindor turned up for breakfast only to find all Gryffindors enjoying a 'breakfast' consisting of stuffed roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, vegetables. On closer inspection she also noticed 'plum pudding' as deserts. They were having a Christmas dinner for breakfast.

"Mr. POTTER!" She screamed out the moment she came back into the common-room as herself.

"Yes Mam." Harry had an innocent look on his face. "Is there some problem?"

"Would you kindly accompany me to my office?" The last thing that she wanted was for the rest of the house to know about the kitchens and the house-elves.

"But Mam, I am having breakfast." Harry replied putting on a very innocent look on his face.

"NOW, Mr. Potter!" Harry practically dropped the plate and ran behind Professor McGonagall.

They reached her office and Harry took his usual seat at her table and as usual waited for her to begin the 'proceedings'.

"Who is responsible for the food Harry?"

"The same guys responsible for all the food in Hogwarts, Mam." Harry brazenly replied hoping that Professor McGonagall was still happy over the win.

She frowned for a moment and then smiled. "All Gryffindors must be down for dinner. I will forgo lunch as I sincerely doubt that anyone would be hungry in time for it. Is that clear?"

Harry nodded. That was going to be a problem. Ron, the twins, he and surprisingly Hermione had managed to convince the house-elves to have a special late-breakfast and a special dinner for the Gryffindors that had been delivered to the common room before anyone got up in the morning. For dinner, Harry had provided the house-elves with a cook-book provided by Hermione. Why Hermione had a cook-book was a mystery but Harry let that pass. Yes so much effort had already been expended on dinner it couldn't be allowed to go waste. Well they would just have to modify dinner a bit.

"You can leave now, however I want the entire Gryffindor house at dinner or I will place you in detention for the remaining two days of the term. Is that clear?"

"Crystal clear Mam." Harry nodded and got up to leave for the kitchens the house-elves needed to be informed about the change in plans.

Just as Professor McGonagall had predicted no-one in Gryffindor was really hungry at lunch-time. Only some of the prefects and the Weasleys of course turned up in the Great Hall for lunch. Harry, Ron and Hermione headed to dinner with more than twenty minutes still left for it to begin. But they wanted to be early for it. Most Gryffindors knew that something big was up for dinner and they hardly wanted to miss it. So ten minutes before dinner began the Gryffindor table was filled to capacity.

As soon as the dinner time began everyone's attention in the Great Hall was riveted onto the Gryffindor table. The High Table and the remaining three house tables had the normal non-feast dinner laid out in front of them. At the Gryffindor table it was completely different.

There were pizzas on the Gryffindor table. Pizzas of practically every single type possible were there. There were Pepperoni, Margherita, Neapolitan, Hawaiian and Harry lost count after that. Harry was rather surprised by that he had expected one type of pizza 'mass-produced'. The elves had mass produced what looked like all the types. Along with the pizzas there were fruit juices, 'sweetened fruit' juices as Ron had out it. There was silence at the Gryffindor table for a few moments and then everybody practically started to gobble up the pizza closest to them. It was total frenzy at the Gryffindor table as everyone tried to get a slice of every possible type and then tried to get an entire pizza of the type that they liked the most. Five minutes later everyone at the Gryffindor table was eating absolutely quietly and concentrating solely on ingesting food and drinking the various fruit juices.

All this of course wasn't missed by the rest of the Great Hall and suddenly their dinner didn't look inviting at all and they were all glaring daggers at the Gryffindors. Up at the High Table there were some very angry Head of Houses none angrier yet lost than the deputy Headmistress.

"Albus, do you have any ideas?" Professor McGonagall asked.

He only smiled benignly. "None at all. Let us just enjoy our dinner and let them enjoy theirs." Dumbledore thought that he really needed to have a talk with the house-elves again.

A buzzing soon grew in the Great Hall. The students from the remaining three houses were clearly not impressed and were probably exchanging angry words among themselves. A couple of seventh year Slytherins got up and approached the Gryffindor table. For a moment Harry thought that they were going to grab a pizza from the table, but of course grabbing food was supposed to be well below the Slytherins and grabbing food from the Gryffindors was nothing short of a crime. They were insulting someone but obviously it was not working as everyone at the Gryffindor table was concentrating on eating the pizzas. Malfoy too came over near Harry and started saying something. Harry tuned him out after the first three words and focused on the pizza and surprisingly Ron had swallowed the Gryffindor pride and was instead keen on swallowing the pizzas.

The insulting kept on increasing for about ten fifteen minutes but amazingly absolutely no one from the Gryffindor table was responding. Fourty minutes after dinner began Harry looked around the table and saw that everyone was clearly full and just toying around with the last or the second last piece of the pizza. He met the twins' eyes and they decided to get up. Seeing the twins, Ron, Hermione and Harry get up all the Gryffindors decided that it was time to get up. Almost as one the Gryffindors got up and left the Great Hall in perfect order. And no sooner had the last Gryffindor got up from the benches; their table was gleaming crystal clear again.

The twins, Ron and Hermione were rather popular in the common-room that night. Everyone knew that Harry was involved too but it seemed that everyone had decided that he did not deserve accolades for such insignificant things such as special dinners and Christmas dinners for breakfast.

"Well that was one hell of a dinner Hermione. I didn't think I would like pizza but it was really nice." Ron said as he sat massaging his stomach.

"You like everything edible Ron." Hermione replied.

"No I don't." Ron replied back.

"All right guys stop it. Boy you have started to argue like hell. Brilliant day with brilliant meals and the pizza idea was brilliant Hermione." Harry cut in what seemed to be becoming a full blown argument.

"Hermione, you do realize you have broken as many rules as we have." Ron said suddenly.

"No I have not. I have not broken a single rule unnecessarily." Hermione replied. Harry tried to tune out of their bickering. He had a feeling he was going to need a lot of practice with that.

Surprisingly Harry wasn't called in for the 'proceedings' over the pizza incident. Hagrid had come over to visit Harry in the common-room. He wanted to profusely apologize for letting Harry into such danger only due to his big mouth. Apparently Hagrid had even offered to resign. But Harry blew it off saying that Quirrel would have found out nonetheless remembering Voldemort's legilimency. Hagrid also gave Harry an invaluable gift. It was a photo-album of Harry's parent's from their school-days and up to their wedding. Harry broke in to tears when he saw it and Hagrid knew what it meant to him.

Soon it was time for time for Harry to pack his trunks and for the exam results to be declared. Not surprisingly Hermione had topped every subject except History of Magic and Potions. Ron had topped History with Harry coming in second. Surprisingly Harry had actually topped Potions; Harry thought that Snape would commit suicide sometime during the summer due to it.

The Leaving Feast was brilliant and even though the Gryffindors didn't win the House Cup they enjoyed the second feast in three days. Harry paid a last visit to Argentum who seemed to be recovering brilliantly though Hagrid said that perhaps he would never be able to gain his full powers he would still be very fast. In no time they were in the Hogwarts express and within a few hours at King's Cross waiting for a guard to let them out of the magical barrier. "You must come and stay this summer," said Ron, "both of you -- I'll send you an owl."

"Thanks," said Harry, "I'll need something to look forward to." People jostled them as they moved forward toward the gateway back to the Muggle world. Some of them called:

"Bye, Harry!"

"See you, Potter!"

"Still famous," said Ron, grinning at him.

"Not where I'm going, I promise you," said Harry. He, Ron, and Hermione passed through the gateway together.

"There he is, Mom, there he is, look!" It was Ginny Weasley, but she wasn't pointing at Ron but at Harry. Harry saw her and froze. She had grown up a bit but she still looked as beautiful as ever. She was saying something but Harry couldn't make it out. Harry's heart was beating rather fast and that was all that he could hear. He shook himself out of the moment and approached Ginny and Ron's mother.

Mrs. Weasley smiled down at them. "Busy year?" She asked congenially.

"Yes, quite a busy one." Harry replied trying hard to ignore his fast beating heart and a voice at the back of his mind which was telling him to look at Ginny.. "Thanks for the sweater Mrs. Weasley; it is…….it was, I kind of lost it in the explosion. But it really was brilliant. Thank You for that."

"It was nothing dear." Mrs. Weasley replied getting a bit red at Harry's appreciation. "The twenty thank-you notes did convince me the first time mind you." She said smiling and Harry saw the reflection of the twins' smile in it.

"Eh……that wasn't me…."

"Don't worry about it Harry. They have been up to worse."

"Ready, are you?"

It was Uncle Vernon, still purple-faced, still mustached, still looking furious at the nerve of Harry, carrying an owl in a cage in a station full of ordinary people. Behind him stood Aunt Petunia and Dudley, looking terrified at the very sight of Harry.

"You must be Harry's family!" said Mrs. Weasley.

"In a manner of speaking," said Uncle Vernon. "Hurry up, boy, we haven't got all day." He walked away.

Harry hung back for a last word with Ron and Hermione and a last look at Ginny who was looking everywhere but at Harry.

"See you over the summer, then and for Merlin's sake owl me as frequently as possible."

"Hope you have -- err -- a good holiday," said Hermione, looking uncertainly after Uncle Vernon, shocked that anyone could be so unpleasant.

"Oh, I will," said Harry, and they were surprised at the grin that was spreading over his face. "They don't know we're not allowed to use magic at home. I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer..."


	11. Dobby and The Burrow

It was official, Harry hated the summer not the season per se but the vacation for sure. The Dursleys were trying their level best to be a pain in the neck. The moment Harry had stepped into the house; Uncle Vernon had locked away his trunk and Hedwig. Hedwig hated being in a cage and Harry was now wishing that he had destroyed Hedwig's cage a year ago. He couldn't even get her out as Uncle Vernon had a huge padlock over it. Harry was quite glad that he at least had his wand away inside the sleeves of his t-shirt.

To top it off it was now close to a month since vacations had started and Harry had not received a letter from his friends. Ron, he could understand. He hardly wrote back home regularly but Hermione was a mystery, she was a very regular writer and hence it was rather surprising that she hadn't written to him. Harry wondered if he had done something to make them angry or something, but that didn't make any sense. Hagrid too hadn't written any letters. Hagrid had promised to drop in a few lines about Argentum's progress. Not for the first time, Harry wished that he could magic during the summer too, that would have solved a lot of problems. But all he could do was complete the chores assigned to him and laze around in the woods by the park.

Harry's birthday had been a torture so far, for him and there were still eight hours left. Uncle Vernon was going to have some guests over so Harry had been asked to make himself invisible after a light dinner involving some stale sandwiches. He had been warned on his life not to make any noise while the Masons were at Number 4. Deciding that he rather stay in the open than in his room, Harry snuck out of the backdoor just as he heard the doorbell ring and started to head towards the park. As he was walking towards the park he felt as if someone was watching him, but he couldn't see anyone when he looked around, so he passed it off as paranoia.

He reached 'his' woods after scaling the park gates and sat down on the bench that was there on the edge of the woods. As he started dozing off the feeling that someone was watching him returned. He knew that nobody ever entered the woods. He had a feeling that the woods had a muggle-repelling charm on them like the charms on Hogwarts. Whoever was there had to be magical and he or she had to be magical. Harry immediately whipped out his wand and pointed it in the direction where he felt the person was.

"Who the hell is it?" Harry began. "I know you have been following me since I left number 4. Show yourself." The last part was a shot in the dark but Harry felt that it was worth it.

Harry waited for a few moments and then almost screamed as a moment later a house-elf materialized from the bushes. Harry couldn't recognize him but he realized that he was not a Hogwarts elf as he was not wearing the Hogwarts tea-cosy.

"Who are you? You are not a Hogwarts' elf." Harry asked.

"Harry Potter!" said the said the house-elf in a high-pitched voice. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir ... Such an honor it is . . . ."

The elf, Dobby was starting to creep out Harry a bit. He wasn't regal, confident and composed like Chucky but looked rather nervous and excitable. "What are you doing here Dobby? I don't think there is any magical family around here."

"Oh, yes, sir," said Dobby earnestly. "Dobby has come to tell you, sir ... it is difficult, sir ... Dobby wonders where to begin . . . ."

"Sit down," said Harry politely, pointing at other end of the bench.

To his horror, the elf burst into tears - very noisy tears. "S-sit down!" he wailed. "Never ... never ever. . . "

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I didn't mean to offend you or anything -"

"Offend Dobby!" choked the elf. "Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard - like an equal-" Dobby sat hiccoughing, looking like a large and very ugly doll. At last he managed to control himself, and sat with his great eyes fixed on Harry in an expression of watery adoration.

"You can't have met many decent wizards," said Harry, trying to cheer him up. Dobby shook his head.

Then, without warning, he leapt up and started banging his head furiously on the bench, shouting, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"

Suddenly Harry realized what was happening. Dobby was punishing himself as he had almost spoken ill of his family. Boy did his family sound literally evil. He stopped Dobby from hitting himself and offered him the bottle of orange juice that he had nicked from the kitchen. Haltingly, Dobby took the bottle and took a sip. He waited for a moment almost wondering as if the juice was going to be poison and the downed it in one large gulp.

"All-right Dobby, stop punishing yourself. Consider it……to…….be……err an order." Harry paused for a moment, wondering what to do next. "Dobby you came to warn me about something right?" Dobby nodded so Harry continued. "What is it about?"

Dobby leaned toward Harry, his eyes wide as headlights. "Dobby heard tell," He said hoarsely, "that Harry Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time just weeks ago ... that Harry Potter escaped yet again."

Harry nodded wondering where exactly was this going and Dobby's eyes suddenly shone with tears.

"Ah, sir," he gasped, dabbing his face with a corner of the grubby pillowcase he was wearing. "Harry Potter is valiant and bold! He has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later... Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts."

Harry stared at Dobby. Stared hard and long at Dobby. Harry's first instinct was to scream out '_What_' but he held his tongue. He wondered if this was someone's idea of a sick joke. No, Dobby sounded rather genuine even if he looked a bit nervous and almost crazy.

"What are you talking about Dobby?" Harry finally asked.

"Harry Potter must stay where he is safe. He is too great, too good, to lose. If the great Harry Potter goes back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger."

Harry looked at Dobby straight into the eyes. Not for the first time he wondered if Dobby was completely crazy. "What kind of danger, Dobby?"

"There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year," whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over. "Dobby has known it for months, sir. Harry Potter must not put himself in peril. He is too important, sir!"

Harry's eyebrows almost disappeared into his hair, making him wonder for a moment if he looked like McGonagall, but he out that thought away immediately. He needed to concentrate a lot here. He had a feeling that, Dobby wouldn't be able to tell him the details of the plot, if it was true at all. But house-elves did not mess around, unless…..

"Dobby do your owners know that you are here?" Dobby looked terrorized and then shook his head. Harry wondered whether Dobby had been ordered to come and tell him or perhaps scare him off but his instincts said that Dobby was rather genuine.

"Can you tell me who your owners are? Are they involved in it?" Harry asked.

Dobby made a funny choking noise and then banged his head frantically against the bench.

"All-right I get it, you can't tell me." Harry wondered how he was going to get more information from the house-elf. "Okay, just nod or shake your head. Okay?"

Dobby nodded, so Harry continued. "Is Voldemort involved?"

Very slowly Dobby shook his head, but his eyes had gone very wide. Harry wondered if Voldemort was indeed involved but Dobby couldn't tell him about it. But Dobby shot that theory down.

"He-who-must-not-be-named is not involved Harry Potter."

"Okay Dobby thanks for the warning, but I have to go back to Hogwarts, besides I don't think that anyone could do much where Albus Dumbledore is the Headmaster……"

"Yes Harry Potter, but there are powers which Albus Dumbledore does not have, no decent wizard….." It looked like Dobby was about to start punishing himself again so Harry simply grabbed him and held him away from the bench.

"All-right Dobby I get the picture, but I have to go back to Hogwarts. It's my home. All my friends are there."

"Friends who do not write Harry Potter?" Dobby asked slyly.

Harry was about to reply when the full implications of the question hit him. Dobby had to do something with his 'non-existent' mail. "Have you been stopping my mail, Dobby?"

"Dobby has them here, sir," said the elf. Stepping nimbly out of Harry's reach, he pulled a thick wad of envelopes from the inside of the pillowcase he was wearing. Harry could make out Hermione's neat writing, Ron's untidy scrawl, and even a scribble that looked as though it was from the Hogwarts gamekeeper, Hagrid. Dobby blinked anxiously up at Harry.

"Harry Potter mustn't be angry... Dobby hoped ... if Harry Potter thought his friends had forgotten him ... Harry Potter might not want to go back to school, sir . ...

"I will go to Hogwarts whether my friends write to me or not Dobby. Now more than ever, if there is going to be some kind of danger at Hogwarts. So hand over the letters to me and kindly stop blocking any further mail." Harry's voice was cold, for a moment Harry wondered if he was being rather unfairly angry with Dobby. Dobby had meant to save him from whatever danger was there at Hogwarts after-all. "Now give me my letters." Harry finished much less coldly.

"Harry Potter will have them, sir, if he gives Dobby his word that he will not return to Hogwarts. Ah, sir, this is a danger you must not face! Say you won't go back, sir!"

"No Dobby, I can't do that."

"Then Harry Potter leaves Dobby no choice," said the elf sadly. Before Harry could say anything, Dobby clicked his fingers together and burned the letters and then popped away. Harry stared at the smoldering mess for a moment and wondered how exactly was that going to stop him from going to Hogwarts but then he realized the meaning. Dobby had used magic to burn the letters. They were not supposed to use magic during summer. Harry completely panicked now. He wondered if he was going to be expelled now. For almost half an hour he sat frozen on the bench waiting with bated breath for someone to come and tell him that he was being expelled. Fourty minutes later an owl swooped down, dropped a letter at Harry's feet and flew off.

The letter had an official look to it. With trembling hands Harry opened the letter and read it.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_We have received intelligence that an 'Incendio Charm' was used __in a Muggle-inhabited area near the place of your residence__this evening at twelve minutes past nine. As you know, underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside school, and further spell work on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C)._

_We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offense under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy._

_Enjoy your holidays! Yours sincerely,_

_Mafalda Hopkirk_

_IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OFFICE_

_Ministry of Magic_

Harry re-read the letter and breathed an enormous sigh of relief. He was not expelled. Clearly Dobby didn't know that they got one chance before being expelled. He folded the letter and stuffed it into his pocket. He looked at the burnt pile of parchment and saw that one parchment was not completely burnt. He picked it up, it was Ron's handwriting. He couldn't make out the entire letter but could read out the parts saying 'come to stay over', 'mum waiting too', 'reply quickly'. Great he thought, Ron was inviting him to stay over and he didn't even get the letter. At least he wasn't expelled; thanking his luck he simply flopped on the bench and went to sleep.

Harry was woken up in the morning by somebody violently shaking him. He groaned as he tried to open his eyes but couldn't as it was bright sunlight. He wondered since when was his room so bright. He closed his eyes again and opened them slowly after a few moments and gasped. He was still in the park and standing over him were a couple of police constables.

"Err….good morning officers." Harry began wondering what in the world he was going to tell them.

"What are you doing sleeping here at 7:30am in the morning boy and it looks like you have been sleeping here for the entire night?" The older of the two constables asked. Harry had a feeling that the constable recognized him or was trying to remember him but he was pretty sure that he had never seen the constable before.

"Err…..nothing. I just fell asleep on the bench, last evening. I guess I was tired and didn't wake up until now." Harry replied.

"You are the Potter-boy aren't you?" The second one asked. Harry nodded. "The one who goes to St. Brutus?"

Harry groaned silently. He remembered what the Dursleys had told all the neighbours about his disappearance for an entire year. They had enrolled him in St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys.

"Yes. That would be me." Harry replied hoping that somehow he would be able to slip from there.

The two constables exchanged a look. "Well Potter, have you been up to something last night?"

"Up to something?" Harry asked wondering where exactly was this conversation heading.

"Yes, a house was burgled on Privet Drive. Nothing much was taken from the house except for a wallet filled with money. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" The first constable asked.

Harry groaned audibly. Snape would absolutely love this. He was now being accused of robbery. The constables seemed to have inferred Harry's groan as a confession and were now standing at full alert.

"Whoa, absolutely not. I have no idea about the robbery. I just was rather tired yesterday and simply fell asleep on the bench." Harry replied hoping to convince them of his 'innocence'.

The two constables were clearly not convinced. The older one took charge. "Well stand up. We will search you and if you are clean then……"

Harry almost got up but then hesitated a bit. He had the letter from the ministry in his pocket. If the constables read it, he was pretty sure that he would be locked up or perhaps even his sanity questioned and if the constables believed it that would surely break the International Statue of Secrecy. He decided to take a chance; the letter was inside the envelope after all. He got up and swiped away the sweat on his forehead revealing the scar. He looked up at the older constable and saw an incredulous look on his face. He also realized that the constable was staring at his forehead with a look of amazement. The constable knew the significance of the scar. Before he could he could say anything the older constable addressed his junior.

"Forget it Briggs, I don't think this Potter is the robber. He wouldn't be sleeping on a bench after committing a crime. Get to the car, I will be there in a minute but I would like to talk with Potter for a few moments." The younger man shrugged and started walking away towards the car.

"How do you know who I am?" Harry asked the older man.

"I am squib, Mr. Potter. My name is Castle, Derek Castle. I am honored to meet you Mr. Potter." The constable said extending his hand. Harry shook it with a visible look of relief on his face.

"Thank God! I have a letter from the ministry in my pocket and I was wondering what I was going to do with it and please call me Harry. Mr. Potter makes me rather nervous."

"Well then I am glad that I saw the scar, Harry. My son talked a lot about you. He was in Hufflepuff, he graduated this year though."

"Oh, I don't think I have ever met him." Harry replied.

"I believe you have, Harry. He was in the Quidditch team, a chaser. But I heard that was a rather short match." Derek Castle said.

"Yes, it was. The referee was rather unfair, had to end it quickly." Harry replied with a wry smile.

They were silent for a few moments. Then Castle continued. "What is the story with St. Brutus and you sleeping on the bench?"

"Nothing, my relatives are rather magic-phobic and I really did fall asleep on the bench." Harry would have loved to elaborate but he didn't.

"Well, Mr. Potter I have to go now, it has been a pleasure meeting you. I live over in Albury it only about 6 kilometers down the highway. If you ever need my help please do not hesitate to call on me. You will recognize my house easily enough; it is the only magical house in the village. Good-day." Derek Castle shook hands with Harry again and walked away.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the bench again. Boy was lady-luck on his side or what. Nothing but pure dumb luck had saved him twice within 12-hours. Shit, he needed to get to Number 4 quickly or the Dursleys were going to be rather angry. He raced back to Privet Drive and surprisingly even though Aunt Petunia was awake she didn't say anything. She actually looked happy to Harry and was humming as he supervised Harry making breakfast. It was during breakfast that Harry learnt the reason for her happiness.

"BOY!" Uncle Vernon addressed him as usual. "We that is the three of us will be going to Majorca for 7-days. We will be leaving in…………."

Harry did not let him complete the sentence. "I can go and stay with my friend, for the rest of the summer." Harry put great emphasis on the last part of the declaration. "However I need to inform them about it and I need Hedwig to do that. If you let her out of the cage she can…….."

"I get your POINT." Uncle Vernon screamed out loudly. He simply didn't want Harry to mention that owls delivered mail.

"Well, then will you please remove her from the cage?" Harry replied back evenly.

Twenty minute later Harry was smiling as he re-read his letter to Ron before attaching it to Hedwig's leg.

"Well girl, have a safe flight and wait to see if they have a reply for me." Hedwig gently nipped Harry on the ear and took off from the window. Harry spent the rest of the day doing chores for the Dursleys and expectantly waiting for some kind of response from Ron. But Hedwig hadn't turned up until nightfall nor did she turn up the next day. Harry had begun to get worried now. Granted he didn't know where the Weasleys lived but Hedwig had flown to the Weasley residence and back to Hogwarts within a day. Surely Surrey wasn't that far away from them.

Harry could barely eat anything at dinner that night as he was rather anxious about receiving Ron's reply, but Hedwig did not turn up. Harry fell into an uneasy sleep wondering what had happened to his owl, well friend really. Harry was woken up in the middle of the night by someone throwing small stones at him and calling his name making him wonder if the Dursleys had finally lost it, but the voice did not belong to any of the Dursleys. Hell, it belonged to Ron. Harry was out of the bed like an arrow and started looking around.

"Outside the window mate." Yes, it definitely was Ron's voice.

"Ron!" breathed Harry, creeping to the window and pushing it up so they could talk. "Ron how did you – So you got my letter finally?"

Harry's mouth fell open as the full impact of what he was seeing hit him. Ron was leaning out of the back window of an old turquoise car, which was parked in midair. Grinning at Harry from the front seats were Fred and George, Ron's elder twin brothers and perched on the hood of the car was a rather pleased looking Hedwig.

"So Harrikins can't stop breaking laws now that school is out?" The twins asked jokingly.

"What? No I didn't. It was the elf. He……"

"Stop gibbering. No, I didn't, Hedwig turned up without a letter and looked rather agitated. I knew something was very wrong so I got the twins and here we are. And what is the story with you? You know we are not supposed to do magic outside school." Ron interrupted.

Harry decided to ignore the fact that Ron and the twins were in a flying car in a completely muggle neighbourhood. "It's a bloody long story. But what are you guys doing here?"

"We are here to take to the Burrow you idiot." Ron replied. "I must have asked you to come over about a million times in my letters."

"I never received them. Anyways I would love to come but we have a problem, my trunk is locked inside the cupboard under the stairs and the key is with my uncle."

"Ah, Harrikins looks like the summer has dented your intelligence." The twins replied and then Fred stepped through the window and was out of Harry's room before he could reply anything. Five minutes later, Fred was back lugging behind him the large trunk. Harry opened the trunk and dumped his clothes lying around into the trunk and closed. A minute later the trunk was safely in the car and Fred had climbed back. Harry took one last look at his room and spotted the cage; he took the cage along with it and then climbed into the car. A few minutes later they were off with Hedwig leading the way.

"All-right Harry what is the story?" Ron asked.

Harry who was marveling the flying car was suddenly brought back to reality. "A house-elf was blocking my mail. I haven't got one single piece of mail since summer started. To top it off, my uncle had locked up Hedwig until a couple of days before, so I couldn't owl you guys either."

"Why was a house-elf blocking your mail?" George asked after a moment.

Harry told them the entire story and they were all quite shocked. "An house-elf cannot lie unless specifically ordered by it's master you know." Fred said. "So perhaps someone was just trying to scare you off or something."

"Nah, Dobby sounded rather genuine. He told me that his master didn't know that he had come to warn me and something tells me he really was telling the truth." They were all silent for a few minutes. "Do all magical families have house-elves?"

"No, only old, pureblood and rich ones do. We are pureblood and old but we don't have one. In fact we only have a damn ghoul in the attic." Ron replied.

"That doesn't help there are too many old-pureblood families too consider, right?" The Weasleys nodded.

"Are you going to tell Dumbledore?" George asked.

Harry was silent for a minute as he thought over what he was going to do over the warning. "No. If something does start happening then perhaps. But again just like last year we have no proof except for the warning from a potentially crazy house-elf which might actually be a red herring for all we know."

The four were silent for a couple of minutes. Harry wondered if Dobby was really telling the truth but his logically thinking, his warnings sounded more like the blabbering of a crazed elf then anything else. "So what is the story with the car?"

"Well, dad likes to tinker around in the shed with all the muggle-stuff. He's charmed the car to fly but I don't think he has ever flown it before. The twins have taken it out before a couple of times but that's all." Ron replied.

"Err isn't it illegal?"

"It is, infact ironically dad works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department and he had a shed full of 'charmed muggle artifacts'. Guess he would have to arrest himself if he ever raids our house." Ron replied and then the three Weasleys burst out laughing.

"So I guess, I can safely rule out your parents knowing of your 'rescue effort'?" Harry asked though he knew exactly what the answer was going to be.

"Well, dad is on raids and mom was asleep when we left. Hopefully she would still be asleep when we get back. When she wakes us all for breakfast Ron can say, 'Hey look who turned up in the night' and then……" The twins began explaining.

"Do you guys know from who do you get your mischievous traits?" Harry interrupted.

"What?" The twins asked a bit confused.

"Your mom. Her smile is a dead reflection of your 'impish smile'."

"Whoa how many times have you met our mum to have analyzed her smile?"

"4 minutes in all, I guess." Harry replied. "But trust me, if you give her that story she will eat you alive, twice over."

The Weasleys were quiet for a moment and then nodded in agreement. The twins did exchange another 'devious' smile but Harry couldn't quite imagine what it was all about. The four of them talked and joked for about half an hour when a faint pink glow could be seen on the horizon.

"We will be there within ten minutes and not a minute earlier. Any later and we would have needed to ride on the road and we don't know how to do that. The twins said.

"Touchdown!" said Fred as, with a slight bump, they hit the ground.

They had landed next to a tumbledown garage in a small yard, and Harry looked out for the first time at Ron's house. It looked as though it had once been a large stone pigpen, but extra rooms had been added here and there until it was several stories high and so crooked it looked as though it were held up by magic (which, Harry reminded himself, it probably was). Four or five chimneys were perched on top of the red roof. A lopsided sign stuck in the ground near the entrance read, **THE BuRRow**. Around the front door lay a jumble of rubber boots and a very rusty cauldron. Several fat brown chickens were pecking their way around the yard.

"Well mate this is it. It's not….." Ron began.

"It's wonderful Ron." Harry cut in.

"All-right guys we are going to use the same plannn……"Fred began but then turned a nasty shade of green and dropped the trunk on George's toes who completely ignored the trunk transfixed at a fast moving red object just behind Ron and Harry who now had their backs to the house. Harry and Ron wheeled around to see Mrs. Weasley streaming down the yard with literally steam blowing out of her ears. She reached the four boys and stopped in front of Ron.

"So?" It was a cold silent tone that she had adopted and from the flinch on the Weasley boys' faces, clearly they preferred a rampaging mother.

"Ah, Good morning mum." Began Fred. "Absolutely spiffing day it is isn't it?" finished George in a tone which they clearly thought would be a heart-winning tone.

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" said Mrs. Weasley in a deadly whisper.

"Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to -"

All three of Mrs. Weasley's sons were taller than she was, but they cowered as her rage broke over them. Harry had a feeling that they actually preferred this loud raging tone to the cold-deadly whisper. "Beds empty! No note! Car gone - could have crashed - out of my mind with worry - did you care? - never, as long as I've lived - you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy -"

"WE HAD TO GO MUM." It was Ron. From the incredulous look on the twins' faces Harry thought that clearly no one had ever interrupted Mrs. Weasley in the middle of her blistering vocal storm.

"You know that Harry had not been replying to any of the letters and then dad told us that he had performed under-age magic. Then yesterday Hedwig turned up;" even as he said this Hedwig who had been following the discussion from the roof of the shed swooped down and landed on Mrs. Weasley's shoulders and gently nipped her shoulder.

"Merlin! How smart is that owl?" Fred exclaimed.

"Well she turned up for the first time in over a month and without a letter. She kept on pecking us, flying away and returning again almost as if she wanted us to follow her. We thought that Harry was in danger or something. Turns out he really wasn't, a house-elf was blocking all his mail. But still….." Ron finished to absolute silence.

Mrs. Weasley looked gob smacked. Harry was absolutely sure now that no one had ever interrupted her ever. "Well y-you could have informed us. Your father and I would have gone ourselves." She then turned and faced Harry. "Dear I am absolutely pleased that you have indeed come, I had been expecting you for quite some time now. Only last evening we were discussing about going and seeing what was wrong if you didn't reply until the end of the week. Now come on in you really need to eat, you look all bones and skin."

The twins sniggered at that. "You two stop sniggering. The three of you are still not out of the docks. Now go and deposit Harry's trunk and cage in Ron's room and then come down for breakfast." She ordered the twins and walked off into the kitchens Hedwig still perched on her shoulders.

"Phew, that was admirable Ronnikens." Fred said as he and George lifted the trunk.

"Well, it was the truth wasn't it?" Ron replied smiling serenely.

"Whoa what do have in the trunk Harry, it weighs a ton." It was George.

"Yeah I think I need to get a new trunk. This one is starting to get s bit small for all my books now." Harry replied.

"Get a magical one then." Seeing a confused Harry George elaborated. "They have bigger compartments rather practically room-sized compartments inside them. They are damn expensive though."

"Yeah but you needn't worry after-all you are bloody rich and bloody famous." Fred supplemented Harry's reply to Snape without missing a beat. The four of them burst out into loud laughter and stopped only when Mrs. Weasley shouted something from inside the kitchen.

Harry entered the kitchen after a nervous look at Ron who nodded encouragingly. The kitchen was small and rather cramped. There was a scrubbed wooden table and chairs in the middle, and Harry sat down on the edge of his seat, looking around. Hedwig was perched at the edge of the kitchen platform eating directly from Mrs. Weasley's hands. He had never been in a wizard house before. The clock on the wall opposite him had only one hand and no numbers at all. Written around the edge were things like Time to make tea, Time to feed the chickens, and you're late. Books were stacked three deep on the mantelpiece, books with titles like Charm Your Own Cheese, Enchantment in Baking, and One Minute Feasts - It's Magic! And unless Harry's ears were deceiving him, the old radio next to the sink had just announced that coming up was "Witching Hour, with the popular singing sorceress, Celestina Warbeck."

Mrs. Weasley was moving around the kitchen cooking sausages and eggs at what Harry thought was an amazing speed and if the smell was any indication they were bound to taste brilliant too. Ron's little speech seemed to have calmed her down a bit but she was still a bit flustered. She piled on three fried eggs onto Harry's plates in addition to the three sausages and even buttered up half of the bread-loaf for Harry. Harry was too busy practically gulping down the food to notice the incredulous looks that he was getting from the twins and Ron who had never seen him eat so much so quickly.

"When was the last time you ate a full meal Harry?"

"The Leaving Feast, I guess." Ron's question had caught Harry totally off guard and he had replied without thinking. It was a moment and an entire swallow of fried-eggs later that he realized what he had just said. "I mean I…….I was…….was……err….trying to cut down on my food…….."

"Shut up Harry you can't lie to save your life." It was George and Harry really hadn't heard him so serious ever. Everyone was silent for a couple of moments.

"All right guys, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't like my parents, they don't like magic and in turn don't like me very much either. It's not a big deal okay. I am used to it now. Besides I have to stay there for my protection or something I guess. There are wards around that place; Professor Dumbledore constructed those wands, I think. Hagrid did say something about wards and as they are my last living relatives I guess there are blood wards there so…….."

Harry chanced a look around the table. Ron was looking almost smug as if his point had been proved. The twins looked surprisingly serious. Mrs. Weasley was staring at Harry with a look that Harry couldn't quite place. She looked away from Harry to Hedwig who simply jumped onto her shoulders and then she steamed out of the kitchen.

"Wanna bet Hedwig is going to be flying out to Dumbledore within the next ten minutes." Fred asked.

"I don't take sucker bets." Ron replied. "Though I would certainly like to know whether it is a howler or no."

"Little Harrikins, you really shouldn't lose yourself too much into food. Now mum won't rest until she feeds you four helpings at every meal." George said.

Harry actually managed to smile at that. At that moment there was a diversion in the form of a small, redheaded figure in a long nightdress, which appeared in the kitchen, gave a small squeal, and ran out again. Harry suddenly realized who that was and he kicked himself. It was Ginny. How could have he forgotten her? In all the Dobby and flying car mess, he had completely forgotten about her. She would be staying under the same roof with him almost for an entire month. He didn't have to wait until Hogwarts started again, he could get to know her right now. He was startled out of his musings by Ron's comment.

"She's been talking about you all summer."

"Yeah, I think she will be wanting your autograph any moment now." Fred continued with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Yeah I think she probably went back to get her Harry Potter scrap book." Finished George.

"Ah? What are you guys talking about?" Harry asked a bit confused.

"C'mon Harry you can figure out that You-know-who was in the Great Hall at the Welcoming Feast when Dumbledore couldn't figure it out but you can't figure out this one?" The twins were back to their twin-speak. Ron and Hermione had told them the entire story about the stone and Harry had a sneaking suspicion that they were the ones responsible for the leaking of the story sans the involvement of Voldemort.

"I had help with Voldemort, remember?" Harry replied pointing to his scar. "And I really can't understand what you are talking about Ginny; I mean I haven't even talked with her yet."

"Whoa, little Harrikins you will thank us for this when you get a big older." The twins began. "Practically every girl who ever grew up in a wizarding family has heard stories about you while going to sleep trust me even the Slytherins probably did. You are portrayed in those books as some dark handsome tall superhero……"

"Err I was 15-months old when that happened." Harry interrupted.

"Yeah-Yeah, everyone needs a hero and you were an easy acquisition. Why do you think so many people were staring at you in the first week? You were the complete antithesis of a super-hero." Harry wanted to protest but the twins didn't allow him a chance. "Anyways as you might have realized the Gryffindors saw you for simply Harry after sometime, as a result of being in close quarters with you especially after that detention history thing, but for the rest of the school you kept on doing one bigger thing after another. Standing up to Snape, then being the youngest seeker, then bloody jumping from a jinxed broom and walking away from it, then the 30-seconds catch, then the entire Quirrel episode and of course the stupendous meals in the last week. You see, your every action kept on adding to the superhero legend in the school and eventually through letters back at everyone's homes." The twins paused for a moment. "Do you get it now?"

Harry blinked when the twins finally finished and asked the question. He had never heard the twins speak for so long without cracking a joke. So that is why, Ginny had just taken off from the kitchen. It was like being in the company of a super-hero for her, her super-hero; Harry realized and groaned out loudly. That would explain Ginny's reaction just now and at the station when she kept on pointing at him. She was not pointing at Harry. She was pointing at the bloody Boy-Who-Lived, who performed one heroic deed after another in school. She was in awe of him. Harry still didn't feel that he merited that kind of awe but well clearly she was unbelievably uncomfortable in his presence. 'Great' he thought. 'Quite a pair we would make. I have, well practically loved her ever since I first saw her and she sees me as a damn super-hero.' All his plans of getting to know her well just went out of the window. If she saw him as the Boy-who-Lived, Harry could never bring himself to talk to her. He hated when people talked to him only because of that. But he would have to try. Boy was there anything in his life which was straightforward.

He looked up to see Ron busy with the remaining eggs and the twins eying him with a calculating look but Harry couldn't quite place that look. The four finished the remaining breakfast in silence and then cleaned up and decided to catch a small nap before Mrs. Weasley woke them up for lunch. Mrs. Weasley still hadn't returned. They slipped out of the kitchen and down a narrow passageway to an uneven staircase, which wound its way, zigzagging up through the house. On the third landing, a door stood ajar. Harry just caught sight of a pair of bright brown eyes staring at him before it closed with a snap.

'Ginny.' Harry realized. Great, she practically couldn't stand being in his company apparently as she tried to catch a look at him. They climbed two more flights until they reached a door with peeling paint and a small plaque on it, saying **RONALD'S ROOM**. Harry stepped in, his head almost touching the sloping ceiling, and blinked. It was like walking into a furnace: Nearly everything in Ron's room seemed to be a violent shade of orange: the bedspread, the walls, even the ceiling.

"You like the Chudley Cannons then?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Yeah, ninth in the league." Ron replied pointing to the orange bed sheet emblazoned with two C's and a speeding canon-ball.

Harry looked around the room. It wasn't big, but it had the look of a homely room. Ron's school spell books were stacked untidily in a corner, next to a pile of comics that all seemed to feature The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle. Ron's magic wand was lying on top of a fish tank full of frog spawn on the windowsill, next to his fat gray rat, Scabbers, who was snoozing in a patch of sun.

Ron was looking nervously at Harry and Harry suddenly realized why. Harry grinned widely and flopped onto the camp-bed. "This is the best house I have ever been in Ron; it is more than a place where people live, it's like Hogwarts. It has a character of it's own."

Ron smiled broadly at that and flopped on to his bed.

Harry settled into life at the burrow beautifully. His life at the burrow was indeed very different than his life at Number 4. Mr. Weasley insisted on making Harry sit next to him at every meal and ask him about various muggle devices. Mrs. Weasley practically force-fed him four helpings at every meal. Harry wasn't some burden thrust upon someone at the burrow, he meant something.

Harry spent the days catching up on the summer homework, degnoming the garden and playing Quidditch on the makeshift pitch that the Weasleys had made for themselves in a paddock on the hill nearby. During their first Quidditch play at the pitch the twins had dug out an old camera from the attic and were clicking photograph after photograph of Harry doing all kinds of dives and moves. It seemed that by general consensus Harry had replaced Charlie as the best seeker that Hogwarts had ever seen. The twins of course had duly informed Charlie about this change in the only letter they had ever written to him. Charlie of course wanted proof and the twins were more than happy to provide that evidence to him. Eventually they sent him Two hundred and sixty six photos of Harry in action right from his first match to his dives in their paddock.

Mrs. Weasley had been quite pleased to find to Harry and Ron working over their homework one day and she was even more pleased when Harry accidentally let out that Ron had topped the History class. It seemed that not wanting to be teased about becoming another Percy, Ron had not told anyone that he had topped the History class. The twins as expected started teasing Ron about topping a completely bookish subject, but stopped almost immediately when they saw Ron and Harry's calculating smiles. Harry had a feeling that he was soon going to be badgered about the smile by the twins.

Percy was a big mystery to Harry. He had apparently received 12 Owls which was a big thing but he was hardly celebrating. He used to lock himself and apparently study but Harry wasn't convinced about that. Then there was Ginny. On his first morning at the Burrow, Harry had guessed correctly Ginny was in awe of him. But now he had a feeling that it wasn't simply awe, it was something more than that. Ginny could hardly utter a complete sentence in Harry's presence. Everytime Harry tried to strike up a conversation with her; she replied with nods, syllables or simply fled from that room. It was getting rather frustrating for Harry, but Harry thought that Ginny looked rather cute when she got flustered like that. But he needed to talk with someone about Ginny but her brothers were hardly a good choice.

Harry had also taken the opportunity of his mail finally being unblocked to send letters to a lot of people starting from Hagrid to Ragnok. Hagrid had replied that Argentum was making excellent progress and only returned to his pen at night. Ragnok wanted to meet Harry and Harry had replied, promising to meet him when they made a trip to Diagon Alley to pick up their school-stuff as he didn't want to trouble the Weasleys for an extra trip to Diagon Alley.

They all heard from Hogwarts a week after Harry's arrival at the Burrow. Ginny too received her acceptance letter and promptly knocked over the porridge bowl when she saw Harry enter the kitchen. A few quiet minutes were spent at the table as everyone read through the letters. The book-list looked pretty normal to Harry except for the Defence books which consisted of the entire set of Gilderoy Lockhart's seven books.

Harry finished reading his letter first. "Fred can I see your letter, please?"

Fred shrugged and passed Harry his letter. Harry was surprised to see that the Fourth years too had the entire set. Harry didn't like that at all. If he remembered correctly Lockhart's books were certainly not assigned for defence last year. He glanced over Percy's letter and saw the words Lockhart and knew that the Sixth years had to have Lockhart too.

"Ginny can I see you letter for a moment?" Harry asked and Ginny immediately put her elbow in the butter dish but as everyone was reading their letters no one noticed it. She steadied herself and handed over her letter to Harry too. She too had Lockhart's books.

"This is ridiculous!" Harry hadn't meant to say it loudly but it just had come out.

"What's 'ridiculous' Mr. Potter?" Percy asked sounding rather interested that Harry had commented on the Hogwarts' letters.

"Well, guessing from letters of four different years, I guess that all the years have Lockhart books for defence." The Weasley children and Mr. Weasley looked through the different letters and nodded. "I haven't read the books, but I am sure that story-books can't be the basis of a syllabus that too for all seven years. I mean even History classes don't have storybooks assigned as syllabus."

"I bet the new Defense Professor is female." Fred put in his two Knuts of wisdom.

"Naah, I know it sounds absurd but this smells like some kind of marketing strategy to increase the sales of Lockhart's books or something." Harry said.

After a moment there was a nod of consensus around the table but Percy wasn't convinced. "Mr. Potter, the letters are signed by Deputy Headmistress McGonagall who signs them in the stead of Headmaster Dumbledore. Professor Dumbledore would never have allowed such a thing to go on at Hogwarts……."

"Yeah sure just like he didn't allow Quirrel to teach……." Interrupted Fred.

"………and just like he doesn't allow Snape to teach either." Finished George.

"Contrary to popular belief, Mr. Weasley;" Ron said addressing Percy. "Professor Dumbledore is not omnipotent. He is by far the most powerful, most knowledgeable and perhaps the smartest wizard alive in the United Kingdom right now, but there are many things even in Hogwarts which are out of his control and that's how life is supposed to be. Life would be rather dreary and indeed artificial if he could exert control over everything. However, in spite of this if a calamity does befall us he is easily our best hope and perhaps the only hope to come out of it with any modicum of fruition."

Like everyone else in the kitchen Harry was staring at Ron like he had grown a couple of brains. Harry was wondering where the hell Ron had got that from it sounded so philosophical and yet true. For the first time, Harry realized that the knowing the fact that Voldemort could return theoretically even tomorrow had really changed his friend. He didn't let the prospect of Voldemort returning affect his life but he certainly had matured a lot within a couple of months that too. Ron still was the fun-loving guy that Harry had met on the train but now he knew that this happy life was perhaps on a clock, after-all it wasn't quite pleasant when Voldemort was around. Ron growing up in a wizarding family knew that better than anyone, he really had matured.

Within moments of finishing his declaration, Ron was engrossed back in his breakfast and was stuffing enormous amounts of porridge into his mouth as usual.

"Well at least we know that he still is ickle Ronnikens." Fred said pointing to the spectacle of Ron stuffing enormous amounts of porridge into his mouth. Everyone else in the kitchen except Percy and Ginny laughed at that. Percy it seemed was too shocked to discover that he could be proved wrong and was clearly not taking it well and Ginny as was her habit never opened her mouth when she was near Harry.

"Ron here's a letter from Hermione, Errol turned up early this morning." Mrs. Weasley said as she handed over the letter to Ron who tore it open enthusiastically and read it.

"Mum, she is going to be in Diagon Alley on Wednesday to buy her stuff, can we go on that day too?" Ron asked enthusiastically.

Mrs. Weasley exchanged a look with her husband and then nodded. Ron immediately ran off to send a reply to Hermione only this time using Hedwig to send it. On Wednesday morning Mrs. Weasley woke up everyone early in the morning and after a sumptuous breakfast of bacon sandwiches, Mrs. Weasley took a flowerpot off the kitchen mantelpiece and peered inside.

"We're running low, Arthur," she sighed. "We'll have to buy some more today... Ah well, guests first! After you, Harry dear!"

And she offered him the flowerpot. Harry stared at them all watching him.

"W-what am I supposed to do?" he stammered.

"He's never traveled by Floo powder," said Ron suddenly. "Sorry, Harry, I forgot."

"Never?" said Mr. Weasley. "But how did you get to Diagon Alley to buy your school things last year?"

"I went on the Tube -"

"Really?" said Mr. Weasley eagerly. "Were there escapators? How exactly -"

"Not now, Arthur," said Mrs. Weasley. "Floo powder's a lot quicker, dear, but goodness me, if you've never used it before -"

"He'll be all right, Mum," said Fred. "Harry, watch us first." He took a pinch of glittering powder out of the flowerpot, stepped up to the fire, and threw the powder into the flames. With a roar, the fire turned emerald green and rose higher than Fred, who stepped right into it, shouted, "Diagon Alley!" and vanished.

Harry took a deep breath and took a pinch of the Floo powder, threw it into the fire and stepped into it and shouted 'Diagon Alley' as clearly and loudly as he could. It felt as though he was being sucked down a giant drain. He seemed to be spinning very fast – the roaring in his ears was deafening –he tried to keep his eyes open but the whirl of green flames made him feel sick - something hard knocked his elbow and he tucked it in tightly, still spinning and spinning - now it felt as though cold hands were slapping his face - squinting through his glasses he saw a blurred stream of fireplaces and snatched glimpses of the rooms beyond – his bacon sandwiches were churning inside him – he closed his eyes again wishing it would stop, and then He fell, face forward, onto cold stone and felt the bridge of his glasses snap.

"Merlin, Harry can you even take a trip through the floo without making a scene?" Fred asked. Harry took a couple of moments to gather himself and then took Fred's extended hand and got up. A moment later Mrs. Weasley showed up and started brushing soot off Harry's robes.

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley. My glasses are completely ruined. I need to get new ones." Harry said examining his broken glasses.

"No, Harry. Here allow me." Mr. Weasley took the glasses and tapped his wand on the glasses and they were as good as new though they did look a bit worn out.

"Thanks, Mr. Weasley." Harry said taking the glasses from him.

"Well if everyone is here, let's get going towards the bank. I believe Hermione will meet us there won't she?" Mrs. Weasley asked as a way of order and a moment later seven Weasleys and Harry set off towards the marble building. A few minutes later they reached the bank and Ron quickly spotted Hermione. After a round of introductions, Mr. Weasley was off with the Granger parents to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink and the remaining Weasleys and Harry went into the bank to withdraw some gold.

"We would like to access our vaults please." Mrs. Weasley said addressing a goblin and pointing to herself and Harry.

"What are your names and do you have your keys?" The goblin asked without looking up from his counter.

"Yes, Molly Weasley and Harry Potter and we do have our keys" Mrs. Weasley said after a quick look at Harry. No sooner had she uttered the words Harry Potter, the goblin jerked up his head so quickly that Harry was sure that he had snapped his neck.

"All right, Mrs. Weasley I will get someone to take you to your vault, however, Mr. Potter cannot go. Ragnok would like an audience with you Mr. Potter if you do not mind."

Harry had almost forgotten about his promised meeting with Ragnok and was quite glad that the goblins hadn't forgotten about it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mrs. Weasley staring at him in amazement and wondered if a goblin demanding a meeting with an under-age wizard rather any wizard wasn't such a regular occurrence.

"Err, Mrs. Weasley would you mind if I did go for the meeting?" She looked unsure but Harry had a feeling that it was more to do with the fact that Harry would be alone after the meeting than the meeting itself. "Ron, Hermione would you wait for me here in the lobby, I promise I would try to come as quickly as possible." They nodded, so Harry continued. "Mrs. Weasley is it all-right now after the meeting the three of us will go about in Diagon Alley together and meet you in Flourish and Blotts inside an hour."

Mrs. Weasley nodded at that and then went towards the vaults with a goblin and Harry followed the original goblin through a door behind his counter. Harry was surprised to see an underground tunnel behind the door. The goblin motioned Harry into the waiting cart and then they were off. The cart was pretty similar to the one Harry had taken a year ago, only this one was more luxurious. A five minute ride later the cart stopped in front of a marble door which opened as soon as the goblin opened the cart door. A labyrinth of passages later Harry was standing in front of an imposing marble door. The handle of the door, Harry realized was encrusted with diamonds. The goblin knocked and signaled Harry to enter.

With a bit of trepidation Harry opened the door and entered the chambers. There was a large desk in the middle of the room and seated behind the desk was one of the largest goblins Harry had ever seen. The goblin was wearing a lot of ornaments on his fingers which Harry found a bit odd.

"Harry Potter, it is a pleasure to finally meet you in person." The goblin said extending his hands.

"Mr. Ragnok I presume, Sir." Harry said while shaking his hand.

"Yes, that would be correct. But do call me only Ragnok, we goblins do not use titles."

"Oh, please excuse me. I do believe I owe you a lot of explanations and my deepest gratitude for all of you help." Harry said taking a seat which Ragnok had pointed to. As Ragnok didn't respond immediately but only smiled at that, Harry jumped into explaining the happenings of the entire year beginning with Hagrid and his trip to the vault and how Harry, Ron and Hermione had went on stumbling on clue after clue. Harry talked without interruption for a quarter of an hour and Ragnok listened with rapt attention.

"So you see Sir, without your help about Snape's history we would have perhaps tried to keep tabs on Snape's moments and missed Quirrel completely. So thank you for replying to my plea for help and I can't ever thank you enough for giving me a chance to read my parents' will and then soothing over my doubts after it. We could never have done the whole thing without your help and indeed advice. Though nobody besides Ron, Hermione and I know about it." Harry finished and paused for the first time in twenty minutes.

Ragnok was silent for a few moments. "You are indeed welcome Mr. Potter. Though I believe you would have eventually cracked the puzzle without my help. I do not mind the fact that no one else knows about my involvement. We goblins prefer secrecy and we keep your secrets too. I must say that you handled the situation admirably just like a fortis-goblin would have. As a goblin I can give you or your friends no higher praise." Ragnok finished and gave Harry a small bow.

"Thank You, Sir." Harry replied. Suddenly Harry remembered something that had occurred to him almost a year ago. "Ragnok can I ask you something?"

Ragnok nodded, so Harry continued. "Why do you help me so readily, I mean it's not like I don't appreciate it or something. I really do, but from everything that I have heard goblins keep their distance from wizards but………"

Ragnok smiled and smiled broadly if the number of sharp teeth that Harry could see was any indication. Harry had a feeling that Ragnok was waiting for that very question to be asked.

"Mr. Potter, I have had personal relations with the Potter family for many generations. Goblins outlive humans rather easily and I have personally managed the Potter account for close to a century now. And the Potter family has, always over the generations treated me with respect and dignity and I owe the Potter name a lot for that. You Mr. Potter have the same very noble traits and more importantly you understand that even though we serve you we are not servants." Looking at Harry's confused expression Ragnok smiled even more widely if that was possible. "You might not understand the significance of all your actions today Mr. Potter but one day you will and that will be hopefully you will not change when you understand it."

Ten minutes later a still very confused Harry stepped onto the marble of the bank lobby. After his meeting with Ragnok, he had gone to his vault and filled up his money-purse and the trio were now in Diagon Alley with Harry quickly explaining about his meeting with Ragnok, though he did leave out the last part. Hermione surprised both Ron and Hermione when she bought enough parchment to last four students for two years.

"Hermione! You are buying parchment for exactly how many students?" Ron asked with eyes wide open.

"And for how many years?" Harry finished.

Hermione wrinkled her nose at that and harrumphed something indistinct. "What was that Hermione? Didn't catch it at all." Ron said.

"You two beat me in History and Potions." She accused Ron and Hermione as if that explained everything.

"No I didn't beat you in Potions you were second right behind Harry."

"You don't understand Ron; I have always excelled academically in everything that I do. No one had ever beaten me in an examination until you two decided to do so in two subjects. Can't you see I am falling behind the competition? If I don't catch-up I will be a failure. I will have no career. I will be left an unemployed………….."

"All-right that's absolutely enough Hermione." Harry decided to interrupt her rant right there and then. Ron was staring at her with a wide open mouth. "You forgot 5 other subjects where you topped the year. You are not falling behind the competition or whatever and you most certainly are not and you never will be a failure. You are second in History and Potions because remember Ron and I have extra tutoring in History and you might say that I have a natural knack for Potions. What you need to do is to cool down and take a couple of deep breaths. When we return to the castle promise me that you will sit down with Professor McGonagall and discuss this with her."

Hermione smiled and nodded after a minute and then the three started making their way towards the book-store. They were by no means the only ones making their way to the bookshop. As they approached it, they saw to their surprise a large crowd jostling out side the doors, trying to get in. The reason for this was proclaimed by a large banner stretched across the upper windows:

**GILDEROY LOCKHART** will be signing copies of his autobiography _**MAGICAL ME**_ today 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm.

"We can actually meet him!" Hermione squealed. "I mean, he's written almost the whole booklist!" Harry and Ron exchanged a bemused smile. This was not a Hermione they were used to and she certainly wasn't the Hermione who almost had a nervous breakdown because she came in second and not first in a couple of subjects. The crowd in the bookstore consisted of witches of all ages and from their faces Harry realized that they were not there only because they liked his books.

"Oh, there you are, good," said Mrs. Weasley. She sounded breathless and kept patting her hair. "We'll be able to see him in a minute ..."

Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes; his pointed wizard's hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair.

"He looks stupid and that smile is bloody artificial." Ron said a bit too loudly and Lockhart looked up and saw Ron and then saw Harry. He stared at the scar for a moment and practically jumped onto his feet. "Good Lord, it can't be Harry Potter."

The crowd parted whispering excitedly and Lockhart jumped down from the dais and pulled Harry by his arm and onto the dais. Five minutes later Harry could hardly believe his bad-luck. Not only was there no feeling in his right hand anymore but Lockhart was going to be teaching Defence at Hogwarts. At least he had got a free set of books for his pains. He staggered under their weight as he got down from the dais right next to Ginny.

"You take them Ginny; I think I am not going to buy the dumbbell's books at all. Screw defence this year I think I am going to fail on purpose." Harry said dumping his books into her cauldron and he was rewarded with a halting yet sweet smile. Harry suddenly thought that the trouble on the dais with Lockhart was worth it only for Ginny's smile.

"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" said a voice Harry had no trouble recognizing. He straightened up and found himself face-to-face with Draco Malfoy, who was wearing his usual sneer. "Famous Harry Potter," said Malfoy. "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."

"Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" said Ginny. It was the first time she had spoken an entire sentence in front of Harry and Harry felt like rejoicing, almost. She was glaring at Malfoy.

"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" drawled Malfoy. Ginny went scarlet as Ron and Hermione fought their way over, both clutching stacks of Lockhart's books.

Ginny went scarlet and Harry felt himself getting rather angry on her behalf. Malfoy had absolutely no right to embarrass her, not Ginny. "Really Malfoy, I am quite glad that your concept of girlfriend does involve a girl. Given the way Crabbe and Goyle follow you around I was wondering whether you had two girlfriends and they were both boys."

Ron burst into loud laughter at that and even Hermione couldn't help herself a small smile. Ginny however was now completely avoiding everyone and looking straight down at the floor. Harry was rather irritated with Malfoy, just when it seemed that Ginny was getting out of her shell he had made her get right back into it.

"What are you laughing at Weasley; I suppose your parents would have to go hungry for a month to pay for all these books." Malfoy said with his trademark smirk.

Ron was silent for a moment and his face was rather impassive. For one second Harry thought that Ron would jump at Malfoy's throat but he didn't instead replied back calmly. "For someone who prides himself on being pureblood your knowledge about the use of magic for conjuring food is rather poor Malfoy, maybe you should get one of those guides that muggleborns like Hermione and Harry buy before the first year. Muggleborns who beat you comfortably in exams may I add."

Malfoy's face crunched up in anger as he wound his arm ready to hit out at Ron. But a gloved hand on his shoulder stopped him. Harry looked at the owner of the gloved-hand and it only could be Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy.

"Ron!" said Mr. Weasley, struggling over with Fred and George. "What are you doing? It's too crowded in here, let's go outside."

"Well, well, well - Arthur Weasley." It was Mr. Malfoy. He stood with his hand on Draco's shoulder, sneering in just the same way.

"Lucius," said Mr. Weasley, nodding coldly. Harry had never heard that tone from Mr. Weasley before.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," said Mr. Malfoy. "All those raids ... I hope they're paying you overtime?" He reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration. "Obviously not," Mr. Malfoy said. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

Mr. Weasley flushed darker than Ginny. "We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.

"Clearly," said Mr. Malfoy, his pale eyes straying to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, who were watching apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley ... and I thought your family could sink no lower---"

There was a thud of metal as Ginny's cauldron went flying; Mr. Weasley had thrown himself at Mr. Malfoy, knocking him backward into a bookshelf. Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on all their heads; there was a yell of,

"Get him, Dad!" from Fred or George; Mrs. Weasley was shrieking, "No, Arthur, no!" the crowd stampeded backward, knocking more shelves over;

"Gentlemen, please - please!" cried the assistant, and then, louder than all. "Break it up, there, gents, break it up -"

Hagrid was wading toward them through the sea of books. In an instant he had pulled Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy apart. Mr. Weasley had a cut lip and Mr. Malfoy had been hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools. He was still holding Ginny's old Transfiguration book. He thrust it at her, his eyes glittering with malice.

"Here, girl - take your book - it's the best your father can give you -" Pulling himself out of Hagrid's grip he beckoned to Draco and swept from the shop. "Yeh should've ignored him, Arthur," said Hagrid, almost lifting Mr. Weasley off his feet as he straightened his robes. "Rotten ter the core, the whole family, everyone knows that - no Malfoy's worth listenin' ter - bad blood, that's what it is - come on now - let's get outta here."

The assistant looked as though he wanted to stop them leaving, but he barely came up to Hagrid's waist and seemed to think better of it. They hurried up the street, the Grangers shaking with fright and Mrs. Weasley beside herself with fury.

"A fine example to set for your children . . . brawling in public . . . what Gilderoy Lockhart must've thought -"

"He was pleased," said Fred. "Didn't you hear him as we were leaving? He was asking that bloke from the Daily Prophet if he'd be able to work the fight into his report - said it was all publicity -"

But it was a subdued group that headed back to the fireside in the Leaky Cauldron, where Harry, the Weasleys, and all their shopping would be traveling back to the Burrow using Floo powder. They said good-bye to the Grangers, who were leaving the pub for the Muggle street on the other side; Mr. Weasley started to ask them how bus stops worked, but stopped quickly at the look on Mrs. Weasley's face.

Harry took off his glasses and put them safely in his pocket before helping himself to Floo powder. It definitely wasn't his favorite way to travel.


	12. Lockhart and The Cornish Pixies

The last part of the summer vacation was a total contrast as compared to the first part for Harry. While the first part was spent with the Dursleys, the second part spent with the Weasleys had been a totally new experience for Harry. The Weasleys genuinely cared for Harry and it never stopped amazing Harry. Sure they were not rich but boy were they rich in the heart. Harry was especially overwhelmed when Mrs. Weasley actually took out all his old Dudley clothes including his socks and patched them up; Harry guessed it was something a mother would do. That day he knew that he was forever indebted to Mrs. Weasley.

Harry had never thought that he would think so, but he genuinely wanted the summer vacation to extend on, his time at the Burrow had been his happiest time ever. He was really going to miss the Burrow. On their last day at the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley conjured up a sumptuous dinner involving almost everyone's favorites and topped it off with a mouth watering treacle tart.

The 1st of September was a downright nightmare. First they had to get all the six trunks into the magically expanded boot of the car without Mrs. Weasley noticing it, which in itself was quite an effort. Then they had to return twice from the highway, once for the twins' quills and then for Ginny's diary. They finally reached Kings' Cross with barely 15 minutes remaining for the Hogwarts Express' departure. The Weasleys and Harry finally reached the metal barrier at five to eleven.

"Percy first," said Mrs. Weasley, looking nervously at the clock overhead, which showed they had only five minutes to disappear casually through the barrier. Percy strode briskly forward and vanished. Mr. Weasley went next; Fred and George followed. "I'll take Ginny and you two come right after us," Mrs. Weasley told Harry and Ron, grabbing Ginny's hand and setting off. In the blink of an eye they were gone.

"Let's go together, we've only got a minute," Ron said to Harry.

Harry made sure that Hedwig was perched tightly on his shoulders (He had remembered to leave the cage at the Weasleys) and then wheeled the trolley around to face the barrier. Exchanging nods the two of them started walking purposefully towards the barrier gathering speed as they neared it and then…..

**CRASH**

The trunks slipped off the trolleys and Hedwig clutched on so tightly that she clawed into his shoulders through his t-shirt. That stung a bit, but Harry had bigger things to worry about. Harry tried the barrier again, but to no avail. "Ron does the barrier seal itself close to the time of the train's leaving?"

"No absolutely not. A couple of years ago Ginny wasn't feeling so good so we left just as the train had started moving and we got through."

"Guess we will just have to wait for your parents to return then." Harry replied.

"We could take the car and fly to Hogwarts." Ron replied.

"Yeah sure; we are waiting for your parents." Harry wasn't sure whether Ron was serious or was joking but he clarified nonetheless.

Ten minutes later no one came through the barrier and Harry was getting worried now. They were attracting a lot of attention from the muggles on the platform. Two young boys with large trunk and an owl to boot weren't a daily occurrence after-all. If they had a run-in with the police Harry knew that they would be in a lot of trouble.

"We need to get out of here, Ron."

"Why? You think the muggles might become a problem?" Ron said answering his own question.

Harry nodded. "We look dead suspicious Ron and if the policemen search us it's game over." Harry finished and started moving away from the platforms and began searching for a secluded area. But apparently 11-odd wasn't a time to search for a secluded area at Kings Cross. Even the Parking lot was completely crowded and Hedwig's hoots were attracting them more attention than they could afford.

"We can't stay here Harry someone is going to turn-up and ask us about the trunks and why in the world are we alone." Ron echoed Harry's thoughts.

Harry nodded. They had to get out of the station if they wanted to escape the scrutiny of muggle authority. "The Leaky Cauldron, we need to get to it. It is near Charing Cross. We can take a cab to Charing Cross."

"You got any muggle money Harry?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, I got 100-pounds, I had some galleons converted when we went to Gringotts but they are in the trunk."

"We will get to the Ford and then you open the trunk. Also get some parchment out and write a note to mum or she will freak out." Ron replied. They reached the Ford and Harry opened the trunk, desperately hoping that no-one would spot them. Harry realized that it was close to 45-minutes since the train departed yet there was no signs of the elder Weasleys. He grabbed the envelope containing the money and also a piece of parchment and a ball-pen that he had nicked from the Dursleys.

"What's that?" Ron asked mystified.

"It's a ball-pen we will discuss about it later." Quickly he wrote a note and tucked it into the wipers of the Ford.

**Receiving too much attention from muggle authorities so gone to Leaky Cauldron. (**_**HP and RW**_

Harry hoped that the note would do the trick and then the two proceeded in search for a taxi. A minute later they were in a black 'hackney' and were on their way to Charing Cross Road. Twenty Five minutes later Ron and Harry were outside the leaky cauldron dragging their trunks through the entrance. They were immediately spotted by Tom the barkeeper who rushed over.

"Why Mr. Potter! Aren't you supposed to be on the Hogwarts' Express?" he asked a bit suspiciously.

"Yes we were supposed to be on it but the bloody barrier was sealed off for some reason and no one was coming out of it either for well over an hour." Ron's temper finally seemed to be catching up with him.

"You have to be a Weasley, young master with that temper and the red-hair." Tom replied. Ron only nodded at that. "Well, would you like to get to Hogwarts on the double?"

"We have luggage with us." Ron replied still a bit irritable. "You can't probably apparate us there with the luggage."

"No-no-no not all. I was going to suggest using the Floo of course. Since my fire-place is big enough, the luggage shouldn't be a problem either." Tom replied merrily.

"Oh we had love to take the floo, wouldn't we Harry?" Ron said a bit too merrily. Harry had a feeling why. He wasn't too excited about it but he nodded nonetheless.

"We will go through the floo but are any of the Hogwarts fires on the Floo network?" Harry asked.

"No they probably aren't but the 'Three Broomsticks' is on the floo network for sure and we have a secure connection, you can go there all right, but am afraid the owl can't use it." Tom replied.

Harry nodded and looked at Hedwig. "So what do you say girl? You mind flying to Hogwarts?" Hedwig hooted softly. "Actually don't fly to Hogwarts straight away, go and wait at the Burrow, I have a feeling Mrs. Weasley will be wanting to write to Hogwarts pretty soon." Hedwig hooted softly and took off. In the meantime Ron had dragged both of their trunks towards the fire.

Tom took almost a fistful of Floo-powder and threw it into the fire. "Err Tom isn't that powder expensive, should we pay anything?" Harry asked.

"No not all Mr. Potter, don't worry about it. C'mon now the powder will last for a three or four minutes at best." Tom replied.

Ron stepped into the emerald fire first with his trunk and loudly said 'Three Broomsticks'. A minute later it was Harry's turn. He thanked Tom again and stepped into the fire with his trunk and loudly and clearly said 'Three Broomsticks'. After 15-odd seconds of whirling around and inhaling ash, Harry fell out of the grate at 'Three Broomsticks' to Ron's resounding laughter.

"What had I told you; he will be flat on his face." It was Ron and he was talking with a middle-aged woman who seemed to on charge of the pub. Harry stood up and pulled his trunk out of the grate and stepped away from the fire. Floo was definitely his least favourite way of traveling.

"Mr. Potter, you really do look like your father." He looked up to see the woman addressing him. "I am Madame Rosmerta the owner of Three Broomsticks; I am pleased to have you here Harry. I can call you Harry can't I?"

Harry only nodded. His back was still aching from the fall and his face was a bit sore to touch too, he suspected that Madame Pomfrey was not going to be happy.

"Well tell you what boys; I will get you a couple of butter-beers before you start walking towards Hogwarts." She went off before either Ron or Harry could reply. She returned within a minute with two bottles and offered one to Ron and Harry. "Enjoy them, they are on the house, you will need them for your trek to Hogwarts."

Harry drank deeply. It was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted and seemed to cool every bit of him from the inside. It was absolutely brilliant.

"It cools you in summer and warms you up in winter, you know?" Ron said in between gulps.

"We need to come here often to enjoy it don't you think Ron?"

"We can't until the third year……."Began Ron but stopped after observing the look on Harry's face. "Yes, right you are. We need to come here more often." Ron finished with a smile.

They finished the butter-beer thanked Madam Rosmerta and began dragging the trunks out of the pub.

"What are you two doing? Are you wizards are not?" She asked them.

"We are underage remember?" Ron replied.

"This is Hogsmeade, the Ministry does not monitor underage magic here, you can levitate your trunks to the castle all right." Madam Rosmerta replied. "And I have floo called the castle; someone will be there at the castle doors to receive you. Goodbye and see you around."

Harry and Ron exchanged another set of goodbyes and then set off towards the castle again. Only this time they were using their wands to levitate the trunks.

"Say, Harry did you really not buy Lockhart's books?" When Harry nodded, Ron continued. "What are you going to do for defence; I mean you can't flunk an entire subject."

Harry didn't reply immediately. "Tell me something Ron, from the first impression that you got about Lockhart do you think that he is going to be even worth calling a professor?"

Ron didn't reply immediately. "His books say that he has done an awful lot of things. He even has an Order of the Merlin Third Class; but I guess you are right he seems to be bloody fake with that fake smile of his and you were right about his books, they are nothing but storybooks. He can't teach us anything out of them." Harry only laughed at that.

"But what are we supposed to do about defence?" Ron asked.

Harry didn't reply straight away as he concentrated on levitating the trunk properly and thought over the answer. "We will learn on our own. We will need Hermione for that of course as you and I, both suck at research and that kind of things. But seeing that Hermione is practically in love with Lockhart at the moment, it is going to be difficult to get her onboard immediately. Till then we can enjoy having one less subject to study and Peeves can double up his teachings."

They both laughed at it. A couple of minutes later they were at the Hogwarts gates which were surprisingly wide open.

"Are the gates always open?" Ron asked to no-one in general.

"I think there are wards around the castle which prevent unauthorized people from entering or something or people who mean harm from entering, something like the vow of the elves." Harry replied.

It took them a further 20 minutes to reach the entrance hall when they finally met a staff-member and a rather unpleasant staff-member at that.

"So the Express is not good enough for the famous Potter, he needs something more spectacular?" Snape asked with his usual sneer.

Harry groaned silently. Of all the people to meet, they had to meet Severus Snape. "Being thrown out of a warm grate on an already muggy day is hardly spectacular compared to the scarlet engine chugging down scenic countryside pulling the cool and comfortable carriages behind it and leaving behind beautiful forests, rivers, plains et all." He had not allowed Snape to intimidate him in First year; Second Year was hardly going to be any different.

Snape's face turned even sulkier. "Ten points from Gryffindor Potter. Your behav………"

But Harry didn't allow Snape to complete. "The term hasn't started yet, Sir. So even if you take away a thousand points, I dare-say the rubies in the hour-glasses will remain unchanged and Sir please show a bit more affection, I am after-all your star-student."

Snape it seemed couldn't come up with any reply for that. "Take your trunks and deposit them in your dormitories. The password to the Gryffindor Common room is 'wattlebird'." Snape finished and spun around and left the Entrance Hall for the dungeons.

Ron and Harry deposited their trunks in their dormitory and then went down and sprawled onto a couch in the common-room.

"I am hungry;" Ron began "and thirsty."

"Yeah so am I, but first we need to know what happened. We will go and meet Professor McGonagall and then head to the kitchens for a bite" Harry replied and then they headed out to Professor McGonagall's office. Harry realized that it was the first time that he was voluntarily entering her office and couldn't help smiling a bit. They knocked and entered when they heard an 'Enter' from inside the room.

Professor McGonagall was seated behind her desk and filling out some papers. "Take a seat Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter." Harry and Ron took a seat respectively and out of habit waited for Professor McGonagall to begin the 'proceedings'.

"I believe you missed the train." It was a statement but she clearly expected some answers.

"No, I mean we did miss the train but only because the barrier was sealed separating the muggle portion and the platform were sealed." Harry explained.

"That is correct, it was almost 90minutes after the train left that the barrier was unsealed and the anti-apparition wards over the platform dropped. I believe that is why your parents;" She pointed towards Ron. "And a lot of other parents couldn't come out of the platform. Now the question is why did you disappear from King's Cross?"

Ron replied instantaneously. "We were attracting a lot of attention with our enormous trunks and Hedwig, Harry's owl. Harry was afraid that the muggle aurors would perhaps search us as we were looking rather suspicious, so we left a note for mum and dad and then decided to go to the Leaky Cauldron." Ron finished as if that explained everything. Harry took one look at Professor McGonagall's face and knew that these 'proceedings' were long from over.

"How did you reach the Leaky Cauldron? Surely you didn't walk all the way."

"We took a taxi Mam; I had converted some gold into British Pounds for use in the next summer so we had money. Then Tom offered us the use of his Floo to get to Hogsmeade. We accepted it and here we are."

Professor McGonagall looked at each of them and then nodded. "All right I will explain to the Headmaster about this, you are free to go. Here are a couple of sandwiches, do eat them and be sure to get back in the Great Hall for dinner and in your school-robes. The sorting too and Mr. Potter kindly visit the Hospital Wing too; I do not want any of my students to have a black-eye through the first week."

Harry nodded before he suddenly remembered Hermione's outburst in Diagon Alley. "Professor, can I ask you something? I mean to do something?" Harry asked.

Professor McGonagall looked a bit surprised. "What is it Mr. Potter?"

Harry began a bit nervously. "It's about Hermione actually. You see we were purchasing parchment and quills and she bought enough quills and parchment for four students for two years. When Ron and I asked her about it she had a sort of I don't know nervous breakdown. She said that she needed to work hard, harder than anyone because she was falling back in her studies or something….."

"Miss Granger said that?" Professor McGonagall interrupted clearly surprised.

"Yes, she thinks that because she hasn't topped History and Potions she is loosing her touch or something and she will end up as a failure and unemployed and something of that sort. So would you please talk with her about this?" Finished Harry.

Professor McGonagall was quiet for a moment. "Thank You for telling me about this Harry, I will talk to Miss Granger at the earliest opportunity possible."

Madame Pomfrey as they had expected was rather irritated with Harry for turning up in the infirmary even before the Express had arrived at Hogsmeade.

"So Mam, do you have any other predictions for us this year?" Harry asked her.

"Yes, the next time you come here, I am going to make you drink SkeleGrow, it will hopefully reduce the usage of that tongue of yours." Madame Pomfrey retorted. Ron flinched immediately but Harry couldn't reason out why.

"Err, why is that such a hideous prospect?"

"SkeleGrow is by far the worst smelling and worst tasting potion concocted so far by wizard-kind." Madame Pomfrey replied.

Ron and Harry spent an enjoyable afternoon roaming around the castle. Knowing that they were the only students in the castle was a heady feeling. Peeves was overjoyed when he met 'Scarhead' and 'Rusty' a full six hours in advance. As they had decided in the pub they asked Peeves about the secret passageways out of the castle. Peeves knew a fair number of passageways but so did Filch and he monitored them continuously. So getting out of the castle was not going to be as easy as they had thought, but Peeves promised them that he would try and remember if there was any passage which he knew and Filch did not. As Peeves never went out of the castle walls, his memory about passages out of the castle was rather dodgy.

Harry also went down to visit Hagrid. Hagrid too was overjoyed to meet him and immediately took him to Argentum's pen. Harry spent a good couple of hours with Argentum while Ron spent that time eating sandwiches and swapping stories about Charlie with Hagrid. Hagrid was clearly still depressed that he had to give away Norbert and Ron decided that it was best if he did not comment on that. The injury on Argentum's neck had healed completely but it had left a silvery scar which still clearly hurt the unicorn. Hagrid said that the scar was slowly fading away but it would take a long time. Promising to visit again the two headed towards the castle again.

"Let's go the kitchens, I am hungry again." Ron said as soon as they were in the castle.

"We have the feast in about 2-hours Ron, why do want to eat again?" Harry asked a bit confused.

"Three hours, remember the sorting. That takes up a lot of time. C'mon it's barely 4:30pm and we haven't even met Chucky as yet."

That did it for Harry and ten minutes later they were both in the kitchens. The moment they entered the kitchens, Chucky showed up.

"Good Afternoon, Scarhead and Rusty how is you doing today?"

"Brilliant Chucky." Ron replied, literally sniffing around for food.

"We are doing great Chucky, how are you doing?" Harry asked.

As it happened when she was asked those kinds of questions, Chucky looked a bit taken aback but then replied with a bit of trepidation as if the question was some sort of a trick question. "Chucky is doing very well too, Scarhead."

"Say Chucky can we get to eat something?" Ron asked.

"We is not having anything extra Rusty, only the feast-food, is that correct with Rusty?" She asked.

"Oh brilliant no problems, at all." Ron replied with enthusiasm. "What about you Scarhead?" Ron asked getting into the elves' spirit.

Harry smelled, the food really did smell delicious. "Yeah me too, I guess."

Half an hour later both Ron and Harry were quite full. The elves were quite ready to prepare small amounts of food that they were to serve at the feast and offer them to Ron and Harry. By small amounts it meant that the quantity was enough for at least twice as many people. Harry was sure that he couldn't probably breathe anymore.

"That was absolutely brilliant!" Ron exclaimed as he tore into his third treacle tart. Harry only groaned. Ten minutes later Ron was completely satisfied too.

"Harry, I think I am going to go and sleep now. If I see another morsel of food in front of me, I will puke."

"What! We are going to miss the feast? McGonagall is going to tear into us tomorrow and we will miss Ginny's sorting too." Harry replied.

"Oh." It looked like Ron was thinking over it. "Okay then we will take a nap for an hour. I mean it's only 5:30pm right now."

Harry nodded, so about twenty minutes later the two of them were safely and cozily encased in their four poster beds in the Gryffindor tower and getting up to attend the Sorting and the Welcoming Feast was most certainly the last thing on their mind.

When Harry woke up the next morning it was still dark. Wondering how in the world had Ron's room finally been cleared of all the orange wallpaper he got off the bed only to realize that he wasn't on a camp bed but on a large four-poster and he wasn't at the Burrow but at Hogwarts. He looked at the dial of his new wrist watch to realize that it was 5:20am in the morning. He had slept for almost 12 hours straight and he had certainly slept through the Sorting and the Welcoming Feast. Crap he thought, Professor McGonagall was going to eat into him and Ron. He put on his glasses and realized that Ron was still sleeping but it wasn't the usual Ron sleep that he had become accustomed to. Ron was fidgeting around and it looked like he too was on the verge of waking up and sure enough, a couple of minutes later Ron was up searching around for a watch.

"It's 5:25am, Ron we slept for close to 12-hours." Harry whispered out so as not to wake up Dean, Seamus and Neville. Harry heard Ron groan and then he got and silently walked towards the bathrooms. Fifteen minutes and a nice hot shower later both of them were ready to tackle the first day of their second year at Hogwarts. They reached the common-room expecting it to be empty but found Hermione poring over 'Voyages with Vampires'.

"Hermione! It's bloody 5:45am what are you doing up at this ungodly hour and studying at that?" Ron exclaimed.

"Language Ron." Hermione admonished out of habit. "Well, I don't want to fall behind on studies this year. First day is as good a day to start staying ahead of the competition."

"Well you don't have to worry about Defence at least. Harry hasn't even got the Lockhart books, so I think you will beat him which means me too in defence rather easily." Ron supplied and Harry felt like kicking him, sure he really hadn't got the books nor was he planning on getting them but he sure wasn't planning on letting Hermione know about it, so soon into the term.

"Okay but I still have History and Poti………."Hermione obviously didn't grasp the entire implications at first. "WHAT, ARE YOU MAD! You haven't bought the Lockhart books? But they are the assigned books Harry. They form the entire Defence syllabus of our year. What were you thinking Harry? Were you even thinking when you decided not to buy the course books? You will fail the subject Harry and then you will be detained in the second year for another year…." Hermione kept up the rant for another minute but Harry managed to tune out pretty quickly. Finally she stopped and waited for a reply.

Harry wondered why there was silence all around and looked up only to find Hermione's eyes boring into him and clearly waiting for an answer. "Well Hermione, you see I don't think I will learn anything of importance from the Lockhart storybooks so I……."

But Hermione who was digging in her bag searching for something interrupted him the moment she found it. "This is an order-form for books from Flourish and Blotts; if it is not completely filled and handed over to me before lunch I am going to Professor McGonagall; and did you tell her about the quills and parchment incident?" When Harry nodded Hermione continued but in a much softer tone. "I guess, you were right, both of you. I went completely overboard. But you know I have never been second in my life and I guess I couldn't take it sportingly." Hermione was trying hard to hold back tears which were threatening to come through. "BUT that form better be handed over to me before lunch or I go to Professor McGonagall with that information and no slack this time." She finished on a much sterner note and went back into her book.

Harry looked at Hermione with a look of amazement on his face. She had just cycled through god knows how many emotions within the span of a few hundred seconds actually. He wanted to ask her as to why in the world did she carry order forms from Flourish and Blotts in her bag but decided not to, it was too much of a risk after-all this was a girl ready to set Snape on fire. He suddenly remembered that Ginny must have been sorted last night, but he couldn't probably ask Hermione without the situation sounding rather odd, after-all Ginny and he hadn't even had a simple conversation yet where both of them had spoken. His musings were broken by Hermione again.

"Just where you two yesterday throughout the day. Professor McGonagall told us that you two had reached Hogwarts but were not at the feast. Why were you not at the Feast and on the train?"

No sooner had she finished the question Ron burst into an explanation and a couple of minutes later finished with a question. "Do you know where Ginny got sorted?"

Hermione cast a long look at both Ron and Harry and then questioned. "Why were you two not at the Sorting and the Feast?"

"We had the feast in the kitchens at about 5:30pm and then were feeling rather sleepy so we came up here for a nap but woke up only today morning." Harry quickly explained.

"That was rather irresponsible on your part Ron. You have one sister and you missed her sorting. What were you thinking?"

"Hermione which house?" Ron interrupted.

"Gryffindor." Hermione replied and Harry let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding and watched Ron doing a small jig. He felt like joining him too actually. At least Ginny was in Gryffindor now. Now at least she would start seeing him as simply Harry and not 'The Boy-who-Lived'. A few minutes later and amazingly at 6:20am the trio were headed for breakfast. Ron had finally been able to convince Hermione to stop reading the Lockhart book unbelievably for the third time.

They entered the Great Hall immersed in arguing whether Harry's move in the last Quidditch match wherein he had put the Ravenclaw seeker Alvin out of commission was morally right or not. It seemed that Hermione had wanted to have this discussion with Harry since the Ravenclaw match but had decided not to in light of his recent hospitalization and the euphoria over the victory. As it turned out Hermione ended up having the argument with Ron rather than Harry.

"Hermione for the last freaking time;" Ron could be heard arguing as they entered the Great Hall. "The Wronski Feint is perfectly legal"

"The point isn't whether the move is legal or illegal it is whether it is morally and ethically right." Hermione replied. Harry had reached the Gryffindor table and rather swiftly poured himself a large mug of hot coffee, the only thing besides tea on the table and began gulping it down hoping to drown away Ron and Hermione's voices. Harry had a feeling that the Ron at the breakfast table in burrow might have answered differently, but this Quidditch-Ron was completely different.

"Hermione, Alvin had a better and faster broom. It was the Nimbus 2001-prototype. Alvin was making Harry do all the work of looking for the snitch and then when Harry would have spotted it Alvin's faster broom would have got him the snitch first. Harry's usual tactics wouldn't have worked."

"So what, there could have been some different tactics. Harry could have or rather did end up injuring Alvin seriously thanks to that Wonky Faint thing." Hermione replied.

"No, Harry couldn't have nor did he injure him. The opposition seeker got injured because he was too incompetent to see Harry's move and fell hook, line and sinker for it. He got injured because Harry was a better player than him. Harry did nothing illegal or unfair. Harry needed unbelievable skill and concentration to pull off that maneuver successfully without getting himself injured. And as far as morally correct or right is concerned Josef Wronski was awarded an Order of the Merlin for inventing that move." Ron finished.

"So what? Mahatma Gandhi never received a Nobel Peace Prize; an award or a laureate no matter how prestigious does not justify the product or the invention…."

"Well said Miss Granger, an award most certainly does not justify one's actions." It was Professor Dumbledore with Professor McGonagall behind him, thanks to Ron's and Hermione's ruckus Harry had completely missed hearing them enter the Great Hall. "But then, one may argue that there is nothing morally or ethically right about hitting a charmed iron ball towards a player perched only on a flimsy stick of wood hundreds of feet in the air. Morals and ethics of a society at large are rather volatile and completely perceptive and they keep on changing, indeed many times at a mere person's whims and fancies. That is why we have laws and constitutions Miss Granger. Yet many times we need to judge a person based on our or perhaps his morals or ethics rather than the prevalent laws. Your debate can have no winner only a better orator or possibly a better rhetorician."

Hermione could only mutely nod. Ron however looked totally confused an expression mirrored by Harry. "Well Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley and Harry have a good first day and Mr. Weasley and Harry welcome back to Hogwarts." Professor Dumbledore greeted them and walked away towards the high table.

"Do Professor Dumbledore's words really make a lot of sense or his words make no sense at all but everyone simply assumes that they make a lot of sense?" Harry asked no one in general after a moment.

"A bit of both Mr. Potter." Harry winced, it was Professor McGonagall. He had totally forgotten her and he certainly didn't want to say out that loudly in front of Professor Dumbledore's deputy.

"Don't worry about that, it is a doubt that I have had till date." Professor McGonagall said on noticing Harry's look. "However I believe, I had instructed the two of you;" She said pointing towards Ron and Harry. "To present yourselves at the Welcoming Feast as well as the Sorting. However I didn't find any trace of you two. Could you care to explain about it?"

"We went to Hagrid's place in the afternoon." Blurted out Ron and stopped as if that explained everything.

"The feast was in the evening Mr. Weasley." Professor McGonagall reminded him.

"We know that Mam, but we had Hagrid's Rock cakes for snacks after lunch and they were clearly not meant for our teeth or our digestive systems." Harry explained further, surprising himself with his lying skills.

"I see." Professor McGonagall clearly didn't believe it but didn't say anything more. "Miss Granger here are the time-tables for the Gryffindor Second Years, I hope you don't mind distributing them to the rest of your classmates either." Hermione's eyes widened and she nodded quickly. "And I will see you before lunch in my office."

"Yes Professor." Hermione replied as she took the time-tables.

Hermione handed over a time-table each to Ron and Harry and Harry immediately went over his. Their first day was going to be rather interesting with Herbology and Transfiguration before lunch, followed by Defence in the afternoon.

Herbology was a rather intense period with the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs plotting and re-plotting Mandrakes. Harry was partnered with Justin Flinch Flenchley who seemed to be rather impressed with Lockhart which meant that Harry wasn't quite impressed with him. Harry also rather liked the pink ear-muffs that they used to drown out the cry of the Mandrake. At the end of the class, Harry nicked one. He could certainly think of one or two ways of putting them to good use.

The Transfiguration lesson was really quite complex and difficult. They were changing beetles into buttons. Harry managed to change his beetle into a button very late in the period and Ron's button still had legs. But surprisingly both Ron and Harry had got very good at un-transfiguring unfinished or half transfigured buttons back into the beetle, earning a smile from Professor McGonagall. Hermione was rather pleased at the end of that particular class as she managed to convert multiple beetles into buttons, earning that rare smile from Professor McGonagall.

Ron and Harry decided to wait for Hermione before having lunch. They spent that time visiting Peeves who showed them a secret passage rather a stair-case that led from the statue of a centaur near the Gryffindor tower straight to the kitchens. There was a stone-panel at the end which opened on pressing a knob. It was a sort of back-entrance to the kitchens. It opened in kitchen store-room. The elves were almost scared when Ron and Harry emerged from the store-room.

"What is Scarhead and Rusty doings in the store-room?" It was Chucky. Harry had a feeling that whenever anyone entered the kitchens she was automatically informed or something. "Hows is yous getting in?"

"Well, we just found out a way, a direct way straight from the Gryffindor tower to this store-room." Harry replied. "And from the looks of it, no-one has used it in quite some time. The dust on the stairs was at least a couple of inches thick."

Chucky nodded after a moment and the as usual offered them lunch and as usual, Ron could hardly refuse so instead of with Hermione, Ron and Harry ended up having lunch with Chucky for company.

"Chucky can I ask you something?" Harry asked. When Chucky nodded, Harry continued. "Have you heard of a house-elf known as Dobby?"

"No, Scarhead. Chucky has never heard of Dobby. Chucky is very sorry."

"Oh, it's all-right. It was a long-shot anyways. Anyways, thanks for the lunch Chucky we were supposed to meet Hermione for lunch. See you around." Harry said and pushed Ron away from the table and towards the door.

By the time they made it to the Great Hall, only 15 minutes were left for the lunch-hour to finish. Hermione had already finished eating and was reading 'Voyages with Vampires' again.

"So you ate in the kitchens again?" Hermione asked without looking up from the book.

"Sort of, but you didn't wait for us either 'Mione." Ron shot back.

"DON'T call me Mione Ron. I don't like that nickname" Hermione said looking up from the book. "And I started eating because I knew that once left alone you two wouldn't be able to control yourself."

"We had lunch. What does it have to do with control? And your friends give you nicknames; you don't get to pick them 'MIONE" Ron shot right back.

"Is eating lunch the only thing…………"

"All-right stop it guys. BOTH of you. Let's go out in the courtyard and sit and talk not argue." Harry interrupted and streaked out in the direction of the courtyard. A moment later Hermione and Ron followed him. The three sat down on the stone-steps and began discussing Quidditch.

"So Hermione, what do you think Lockhart is going to be like?" Ron asked.

"I think that he is going to be very good. After-all going by his record……." Began Hermione but was interrupted by Ron who had got his hands on her schedule.

"WHY have you encircled all of Lockhart's classes in pink hearts?" Ron asked in amazement.

For once it seemed that Hermione didn't have a reply ready. She simply grabbed the schedule back and buried her nose in her book again, all the while blushing like hell. It looked like Ron wanted to pursue the matter but a quick elbow in the ribs from Harry shut him up and then the two switched back to their discussion on Quidditch. Harry became aware that he was being closely watched. Looking up, Harry saw a very small, mousy-haired boy he hadn't seen before staring at him as though transfixed. He was clutching what looked like an ordinary Muggle camera, and the moment Harry looked at him, he went bright red.

"All right, Harry? I'm -I'm Colin Creevy," he said breathlessly, taking a tentative step forward. "I'm in Gryffindor, too. D'you think - would it be all right if - can I have a picture?" he said, raising the camera hopefully.

"A picture?" Harry repeated blankly, he could hardly think of anything. This was certainly a first, no one had ever asked him to pose for a photo.

"So I can prove I've met you," said Colin Creevy eagerly, edging further forward. "I know all about you. Everyone's told me. About how you survived when You-Know-Who tried to kill you and how he disappeared and everything and how you've still got a lightning scar on your forehead" (his eyes raked Harry's hairline) "and a boy in my dormitory said if I develop the film in the right potion, the pictures'll move." Colin drew a great shuddering breath of excitement and said, "It's amazing here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either. So I'm taking loads of pictures to send home to him. And it'd be really good if I had one of you" - he looked imploringly at Harry - "maybe your friend could take it and I could stand next to you? And then, could you sign it?"

"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos, Potter?" Loud and scathing, Draco Malfoy's voice echoed around the courtyard. He had stopped right behind Colin, flanked, as he always was at Hogwarts, by his large and thuggish cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Everyone line up!" Malfoy roared to the crowd. "Harry Potter's giving out signed photos!"

Harry groaned loudly. This Colin seemed to be an irritant already and all he needed was for Malfoy to turn-up. Even as he was thinking of some retort for Malfoy's comment Colin spoke up.

"You're just jealous," piped up Colin, whose entire body was about as thick as Crabbe's neck.

"Jealous?" said Malfoy, who didn't need to shout anymore: half the courtyard was listening in. "Of what? I don't want a foul scar right across my head, thanks. I don't think getting your head cut open makes you that special."

Crabbe and Goyle were sniggering stupidly. The entire courtyard was filled with students now and sporadic laughing and sniggering could be heard among them, mainly among the Slytherins and some Ravenclaws. There were a lot of Gryffindors in the crowd too. Harry could spot the entire Quidditch team, his dorm-mates and even Percy who looked like was trying to break up the crowd along with a Ravenclaw prefect but they were rather benign and seemed interested in the 'action' too.

"Eat slugs, Malfoy," said Ron angrily. Crabbe stopped laughing and started rubbing his knuckles in a menacing way.

"Weasley you would like a signed photo, wouldn't you?" smirked Malfoy. "It'd be worth more than his family's whole house -"

"YES, you are right Malfoy." Harry yelled out the top of his voice and the laughing and the sniggering stopped immediately as if switched off. It was dead silent in the courtyard and everyone's attention was riveted onto Harry.

"You are right Malfoy, nobody likes a foul scar across one's head and getting your head cut open does not make you feel special. I don't like the scar nor do I feel special thanks to it especially as it cost my parents their lives. That is one expensive scar and it sucks; sucks big-time and I hate the fact that someone might want my picture only because of this damn scar." Harry paused for a moment. He hadn't meant to say out everything especially the last couple of sentences. But they had simply rolled on. Everyone in the courtyard was looking shocked and poor Colin looked on the verge of tears.

"But do you know what does not suck Malfoy?" Harry asked.

Surprisingly Malfoy replied. "What?"

"If someone were to ask me to pose for a photograph because I am the youngest seeker for a lot of time or maybe because I made a certain stand-in referee look like a complete fool after a 30seconds catch or ask 'our' team to pose for a photograph because we won the Quidditch Cup comfortably, not to mention after our chasers had practically killed Slytherin in the first match." Malfoy looked completely gob smacked now and a few sniggers of laughter could be heard again, only this time they were directed towards Malfoy.

"As a matter of fact, I think that we will do just that." Harry continued. "Hey guys come over here." Harry called out to the twins and Angelina; "lets have a team-photo, I don't think we have a single team-photo. Colin do you mind clicking a photo of the Gryffindor Quidditch team?"

Colin simply, silently nodded. 30-seconds later Wood, Angelina, Alicia, Katie and of course the twins had materialized out of the crowd and now were standing together and Colin clicked about half a dozen pictures before they separated again. The Gryffindors in the crowd were meanwhile cheering and laughing at the same time and the Slytherins were sulking away. Malfoy was still standing looking like someone had slapped him in the face and then spit on him.

"Nice save Harrikins." The twins began. "We were readying ourselves for a fist-fight or something but you knocked'em out all right." Harry laughed and the rest of the team started laughing too.

"Guys, I hope you don't mind me breaking this news now." It was Wood. "But we are starting Quidditch practices immediately, this very week-end." The rest of the team nodded after a surprised look. "Look, we won last year but…….."

"Save the speech for practice-day captain, we have lessons inside 5-minutes." Angelina interrupted and then started walking off before Wood replied. Wood nodded and then set off for the castle.

"Hey guys," Harry called out after the twins. "Keep some time free before dinner and look around for me, we have found a new passage. I think you would like to see it."

The twins looked surprised for a moment. "We doubt that we don't know it Harrikins…."

"I am sure that you don't guys; just let's meet before dinner in the common-room, all-right?" Harry replied. The twins gave Harry a strange look before walking off. Harry was about to join Ron and Hermione when a voice he didn't want to hear at all interrupted him.

"Ah, Harry that was a very nice move." It was Lockhart with his voice as jovial as ever. "I must say that you really have a flair for attracting attention and then making full use of it. That photo-ops was something only the best in business could have stage-managed to such perfection. Arranging for that kid to ask for a signed photo right when that blonde was walking across was an absolutely brilliant move."

By now Harry was staring at Lockhart with an open mouth. Lockhart was completely dumb or was really really twisted. Not even Snape could have accused Harry of stage-managing the entire thing. Lockhart it seemed was hardly concerned that Harry's face had a look of resentment and simply continued on as they started walking towards Lockhart's classroom.

"I will tell you Harry, the way you ran the show was above professional, it was instinctive and like music. Media-managers would need decades of training and practice to master that but you! You were marvelous but not perfect; you have a lot of room for improvement. You will end up saving a lot of gold, Harry. Once you grow up and become really famous Quidditch player you might not even need a manager. Tell you what; I will take you under my wings right now. With the right training you can become a media-marvel. You need to learn to smile correctly. You need to learn to tend to your hair, everything. So what do you say would you like to learn the ropes from the master himself?"

Lockhart had finally stopped speaking as they were just reaching his class-room. Harry realized that Lockhart was waiting for an answer.

"Well, Sir Thank-you very much for your kind offer but I think I would really like to concentrate on my studies and indeed simply Quidditch for now." Harry replied and before Lockhart could reply he was off and entered the class. Harry took a seat in the very last row and sat down grumpily and was joined by Ron a moment later.

"Looks like you have had an interesting conversation with Lockhart?" Ron asked as he sat down. Harry did not answer but simply glared back which made Ron laugh. "Tell you what if that Creevy guy meets Ginny they are going to start a fan-club for you."

At this point Harry's glare would have killed Ron. "Shut up," snapped Harry. The last thing he needed was for Lockhart to hear the phrase 'Harry Potter fan club'." He wasn't quite sure how Lockhart would react to that. He hoped that he was wrong about Lockhart's teaching skills and capacity; otherwise they were going to be in for a very long lesson and indeed a very long year.

An hour later Harry was convinced that they at least he was not in for a long year because he was going to either commit suicide in one of Lockhart's lessons or abandon them completely. But since Professor McGonagall most certainly wouldn't approve of the latter, suicide was sounding like a rather attractive option.

Lockhart had started the lesson with a self-praising speech and then had given them a quiz on his personal history starting from his favourite color and ending with the perfect birthday-gift for him. Not surprisingly Hermione had received full marks in the test. But what surprised him was her reaction on being addressed by Lockhart. Instead of beaming with pride as the usual Hermione would have done after receiving praise from a Professor this Hermione was all red and shy as Lockhart addressed her and could barely look at Lockhart in the eye.

Harry had thought that they had hit rock-bottom with the 'Lockhart biographical-test'. But he was dead wrong. After the test, Lockhart introduced the Gryffindor second years to one of the darkest creatures ever found on the earth. Cornish Pixies. The pixies were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to a lot of budgies arguing. The moment the cover had been removed, they had started jabbering and rocketing around, rattling the bars and making bizarre faces at the people nearest them. This set off the Gryffindors and they were all laughing.

They weren't laughing however when Lockhart let all the Pixies out of the cage and then couldn't control them. It was pandemonium. The pixies shot in every direction like rockets. Two of them seized Neville by the ears and lifted him into the air. Several shot straight through the window, showering the back row with broken glass. The rest proceeded to wreck the classroom more effectively than a rampaging rhino. They grabbed ink bottles and sprayed the class with them, shredded books and papers, tore pictures from the walls, up-ended the waste basket, grabbed bags and books and threw them out of the smashed window; within minutes, half the class was sheltering under desks and Neville was swinging from the iron chandelier in the ceiling.

Lockhart's spell 'Peskipiksi Pesternomi' had absolutely no effect on the pixies and actually attacked Lockhart, seized his wand and threw it out of the window. Harry was actually enjoying the entire show. He was smiling the entire time and covertly freezing a pixie or two everytime one came too near him. He realized that everytime a pixie managed to fight off the spell it became completely docile and they were then looking at him almost as if expecting an order. The moment the bell rang almost the entire class started rushing towards the exit and as did Harry, Ron and Hermione. A moment later Lockhart rushed out of his own classroom, bolted the door and ran away. The moment Lockhart had turned at the end of the corridor; Harry started walking back into the classroom.

"Oye, mate the Pixies are still loose in there. What in the world are you doing going in again?" Ron asked in wonder.

"Testing out a theory. If I am right we might have a lot of fun with them actually." Harry replied as he whipped out his wand and then entered the classroom again. The pixies were in the process of quietly ruining the classroom when Harry entered and all of them directed their attention towards Harry. Instantly Harry started freezing as many as he could. Ron and Hermione entered after him and within a minute all the pixies were frozen again.

"Harry, I don't like that look on your face." It was Hermione who seemed to have recovered her ability of speech, now that Lockhart was out of her sight. "Why aren't we putting them back into their cage? What exactly are you planning with them?"

Harry smiled as slowly but surely the pixies started becoming mobile again, but they weren't trying to attack them anymore. They simply stood docile in front of them literally waiting for orders.

"Err can you understand me?" Harry asked feeling a bit foolish but he did try to sound confident. Amazingly after a moment all the pixies nodded.

"That is very interesting." Hermione said and buried her head in her bag trying to search for Lockhart's book on household pests and semi-wild animals.

"Ron, would you mind searching for Peeves and bringing him to his place in the Charms corridor? I will try and get all these guys there." Ron nodded and left the classroom.

"What are you planning Harry?" Hermione asked again.

"Nothing Hermione, just gonna teach Lockhart a lesson." Harry replied.

"HARRY! Professor Lockhart is a Hogwarts' professor. He is a famous……."

"C'mon Hermione, I can't believe that you think that he is any good. Lockhart is totally pathetic. Can you explain why he couldn't do anything with these guys?" Harry asked pointing to the pixies.

"Maybe he wanted to give us hands-on experience." Hermione replied. "After-all he has done so many things."

Harry did not even reply to that instead simply gave her a look and then addressed the pixies. "Err guys would you mind going back into the cage? I swear I would let you all out. I need to get you all to another room and then I will let you all out immediately. I promise."

The pixies looked unsure for a minute and then all of them streamed towards the entrance of the cage and a minute later all of them were inside it again. Harry covered the cage again and then tried to lift it but it was rather heavy.

"You can levitate it you know." Hermione reminded him.

"Oh yes, always forget that." Harry replied as he whipped out his wand and levitated the cage rather easily. A few seconds later he was out of Lockhart's classroom and proceeding towards the Charms corridor. Five minutes later he was inside Peeves' classroom and waiting for Peeves to show up. He removed the cover and let the pixies out who were still surprisingly very very docile. Peeves came in a few minutes later.

"Scarhead, Rusty says that you needs to see me." Peeves asked as he entered.

"Yeah, Peeves. I was wondering if these Pixies could stay here. Do you think you can give some trouble to Lockhart with their help?" Harry asked and Peeves' face practically started glowing.

"Peeves is not liking that Goldilocks. He is saying that he can get rid of Peeves and offering his help to Minnie for that. Peeves will love to help Scarhead and these Pixies trouble Goldilocks." Peeves finished with his both mock bow and mock salute almost as if to show Harry how much it really meant to him.

"All-right Peeves here's the plan." Harry began and outlined the entire Lockhart extermination plan and then Harry and Ron went about the castle and the grounds collecting all the apparatus. Fifteen minutes later the trio was walking towards the common room and Hermione was clearly not happy.

"Harry, I am telling you this is not good. What if you are discovered? You are trying to prank a professor, Professor McGonagall will kill you. You will loose Gryffindor house-points and we will end up dead last again."

"C'mon 'Mione." As usual the gauntlet of an argument with Hermione was picked up by Ron.

Harry managed to tune them out by simply ignoring them completely and even walking about ten feet behind them, which they totally forgot to notice. They reached the common room and by then Hermione and Ron had both stopped arguing luckily. Ron and Harry picked up a chess-game while Hermione once again buried herself in one of Lockhart's books. About an hour before dinner-time the twins came over.

"So little Harrikins you said that you wanted to show us a new passage. A passage that we didn't know."

Harry looked up from the chess game that he was absolutely losing badly and looked at the twins. They had an interesting look on their face. A look which said that they didn't quite believe him. "What? You think that you know all the passages in the castle?"

The twins exchanged a look before continuing. "No little Harrikins, we don't think. We know that we know all the passages in the castle."

This time Harry and Ron exchanged a look and it was Ron who spoke up. "All right then, I guess there is no point in showing you another entrance to the kitchens."

This time the twins were surprised for sure. "There isn't another entrance to the kitchens boys, trust us." Harry and Ron didn't reply and only smiled at the twins. "All-right where is it?"

"Oh I don't know." Harry began. "It is rather secret you know. We believe that even, Filch and Professor Dumbledore don't know about it."

Harry had thought that the twins would be a bit irritated at that but they actually smiled widely after that proclamation. "My dear brother, I believe these two really are walking along the footsteps of the Marauders aren't they?" Fred began.

"Yes my dear brother I believe so too. They really seem to be earning it don't they?" George finished. They exchanged a smile and then switched over to their twin-speak again.

"Listen, Harrikins and Ronnikens if you show us that passage, we will show you the secret of our success at Hogwarts. What do you say?"

"No problem guys, but we would have to do that after dinner. We have a special show for Lockhart today and you really don't want to miss it." Harry told the twins who nodded and smiled almost 'evilly'.

Harry learnt the reason for their evil smile as soon as he, Ron and Hermione entered the Great Hall for dinner with over 15minutes left for it to actually commence. They wanted to reach sooner but Hermione for some reason wanted to visit the library first. The entire Gryffindor table was jam-packed with students. Students in a rather jovial mood. Practically every Gryffindor from the first years to the seventh years were all there at the table. Harry spotted Ginny for the first time since the Burrow and smiled at her and as usual she promptly knocked down a goblet. As he looked around he realized that all the remaining tables were almost filled to the capacity. Harry guessed that barely 20 students from the entire population of Hogwarts were missing. Harry really felt like saluting the Hogwarts' gossip train. It had to be the fastest in the world.

Not surprisingly there was place in front of the twins for the trio. "Do I even want to know what exactly have you spread around for the entire school to be here with ten minutes still left for dinner?" Harry asked the twins.

"Oh, don't worry Harrikins. No specifics, only that there is going to be a nice little show tonight and as you can see everyone seems to be interested. And it better be good, our reputation is on the line here." The twins replied.

"Harry, please don't do this." Hermione was still trying to convince Harry not to go through with the prank.

"What am I going to do Hermione? The Cornish Pixies belong to Lockhart don't they?" Harry replied in a low tone. "I have just liberated them and asked for a favour, that's all." Hermione frowned at that but didn't argue any further.

Up at the High Table the mood wasn't so jovial. It hadn't escaped anyone's (except Lockhart's) attention that the Great Hall was unusually full for a normal dinner. To top it off it was full a quarter of an hour before the scheduled time. Minerva McGonagall was having a tremendous sense of Déjà vu. It had been a long time since the 'Welcoming Pranks' of the Marauders and she really didn't feel like dealing with another set of Gryffindors again.

"Albus do you have any ideas about this?" She finally asked her Headmaster.

"No idea at all Minerva. Maybe they are all really hungry today." Dumbledore replied jovially.

"It has something to do with him. I know it." Snape as usual had no problems blaming Harry. "Did you hear about his shenanigans in the courtyard after lunch? If I had been there, he……"

But Snape never got to complete his sentence as suddenly a large girlish scream was heard from the High Table itself. Lockhart's head was covered with what looked like about ten Cornish Pixies. They had practically attached themselves to his head and taking bites out of his hair like some sort of weird hair cutting machine. The hair was Harry's special touch after he had heard Hermione saying that after his teeth, Lockhart's hair was his most precious body-part. A moment later the raucous laughter of most of the boys in the Great Hall could be heard inter-mingled with Lockhart's girlish screams. All of the girls were however looking completely scandalized. However the most surprising thing was the reaction at the High Table. Professor Sprout who was seated next to Lockhart whipped out her wand for a moment but when she realized that the pixies were clearly concentrating only on Lockhart she calmly picked up her plate and moved to the end of the table where there was an empty chair as Hagrid wasn't present.

After there was nothing but an uneven crop of hair left on Lockhart's hair the pixies flew off. Harry took one look at Lockhart and like most others in the Great Hall started laughing even more loudly. Lockhart's head was looking like an unkempt lawn and the hair had certainly lost all it's gloss and shine. Lockhart was still for a few moments after the first Pixies went off. He realized that the Pixies were gone after a few moments and tried to get up but almost immediately another set of pixies showed up with a bucket in their hands. Lockhart took one look at it and started running away from the High Table. But the first pixies were literally a red herring. They were present only to prompt Lockhart away from the High Table. This was Ron's touch, as they wanted to avoid wrath of the rest of the Professors. As soon as he was clear of the High Table another set of pixies turned up with clearly a heavier bucket just over Lockhart's head and dumped, what was Hippogriff dump right on his head.

By now the boys in the Great Hall were practically rolling on the ground, practically laughing to death. The girls were looking beyond shocked now and Harry had a feeling that after the next move some girls might even commit suicide. Lockhart meanwhile had somehow managed to get himself up on his feet. No sooner had that happened another set of Pixies turned up, lifted up Lockhart and started flying him away from the Great Hall. They carried him out of the castle doors and a moment later half of the student body started rushing towards out of the Great Hall and started following Lockhart's screams. A couple of minutes later the pixies had carried Lockhart over the Great Lake and then dropped him about 100metres out into the lake with a great splash. Lockhart's three favourite personal beauty tips. A hair-cut, then a mudpack and then a nice refreshing bath.

Most of the boys were now actually rolling on the grounds now. Hagrid had joined the laughing too and his booming laughs could be heard across the grounds along with Fang's excited barking. It seemed that Lockhart was absolutely not popular among the boys. Many girls were meanwhile trying to search for long sticks. How they were going to come up with a 100metres long stick was quite beyond Harry but that thought too simply added to his laughter. A couple of minutes later Professor Dumbledore came out of the castle with Snape in tow and headed towards the Lake. However everyone's attention was riveted on Snape who was actually smiling. The twins seized Colin's camera and even managed to photograph the smiling Snape.

Professor Dumbledore meanwhile had extracted Lockhart out of the lake. The moment he set Lockhart on the ground, Lockhart took off towards the castle. The pandemonium reigned for another five minutes before students started making their way back to the castle. Harry never had had a better dinner in his life. He sincerely hoped that after this pixie incident at least Hermione would stop blindly believing him and get down to the researching. After eating Hermione headed up to the library again. After deciding to meet with the twins an hour after curfew in the common room Ron and Harry made their way to the Charms corridor to thank the Cornish Pixies and Peeves. Peeves had managed to literally get them under his control by then. The pixies were back in their cages and surprisingly seemed perfectly happy about it.

It seemed that the general consensus on the Hogwarts rumour mill was that Harry and Ron were responsible for the prank; no less than a dozen people congratulated them on their way to the Gryffindor tower. Even the Fat Lady put in a word of praise before letting them in. The entered the common room to find it unusually quiet. In fact practically no one was talking in the common-room and everyone's attention was riveted on them.

"Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter, I am quite glad that you have joined us." It was Professor McGonagall. That explained the quiet, Harry thought. "Now would you two kindly explain your reasons for playing such a cruel prank on a Hogwarts' Professor?" Even though her tone was clearly stern Harry thought that he detected a slight tone of amusement in her voice.

Harry and Ron exchanged a look and Harry spoke up. "But we weren't responsible at all. The pixies belong to Professor Lockhart. He was giving us a demonstration about them in the afternoon class but I guess the pixies got out of control and then practically rampaged through the classroom. We then ran out of the classroom and never ever saw the pixies until now. Anyways how can we control the pixies and direct them around?"

Professor McGonagall sighed. "Very well, I shall report to the Headmaster that you are not responsible. Good-night." She finished and briskly strode out of the common-room. Harry knew that she didn't believe them at all but she certainly couldn't do anything else at that time.

No sooner did the portrait-hole close behind her; a cacophony of loud noises broke out in the common-room. At first Harry could hardly make out anything but one thing was pretty clear. It was all directed towards him and Ron and pretty much everyone believed that they were responsible for the whole 'show'. After a few moments he could make out a few things. All the boys seemed to be praising him or the likes while all the girls were clearly frowning over his actions. They somehow managed to make their way to the stairs to their dorms. They ran across the twins and decided that it was for the best if they put off their stroll until things cooled down a bit. The last thing they wanted was for someone else to discover a staircase that perhaps nobody else except Peeves and they knew.

When Ron and Harry finally managed to reach their dorms they found a clearly incensed Hermione waiting for them and walking inside their dorm like a caged-tiger and they knew that it was going to be a very, very, very long time before they actually went to bed.


	13. The Rogue Bludger

A/N: I would like to thank all my readers for their reviews; you are the reason that really keeps me going. About whether Ginny does get out of shell, I am afraid she will be taken to the chamber but I promise you, once she is out of the chamber it will be HG all the way.

Hermione had absolutely refused to talk to Ron and Harry after the Lockhart incident for almost three days. She started speaking only after they promised her that they would not prank Lockhart anymore and release the Pixies. They released the Pixies all right; however they refused to go away instead decided to stick around Peeves.

The first Potions lesson of the year surprised everyone. Snape was actually being normal to the Gryffindors. He wasn't nice by a long shot; however he certainly wasn't overtly favouring the Slytherins. Harry had a feeling that this sudden change was only due to the 'Lockhart-show' and wasn't a lasting change.

Lockhart in the meantime completely disappeared from the view of the students for the first couple of days and then returned with about three days later with what looked like a wig on his head. His return to the High Table was applauded by about half the female population of Hogwarts; the rest didn't seem to be interested him anymore after he couldn't handle pixies on his own. Hermione however still steadfastly refuse to believe that Lockhart was a dud until they could uncover some more proof. Surprisingly his behaviour still hasn't changed at all and he still moved around with a swagger as if he was a champion in every branch of magic. However he certainly seemed to be a lot more nervous and kept shooting nervous glances everywhere.

Harry had taken to actively avoiding Lockhart within 24hours of his return. Lockhart had offered him image-coaching no less than three times and with each time Harry was finding it more and more difficult to refuse him politely. Frankly Harry was quite grateful that the weekend was onto them and he wouldn't at least have Lockhart's classes for a whole of 48-hours.

Saturday morning, Harry woke up well before the time Wood had allotted, got dressed and went to the common-room to wait for the others. Ten minutes later the girls emerged from their side of the tower all dressed yet looking rather sleepy and they all flopped down onto Harry's couch. It seemed that Katie was still a bit mad at Harry but Angelina and Alicia had decided that Lockhart was a total dud. Ten minutes later Wood and the twins were in the dressing room and Wood was explaining some tactics to the chasers. Ten minutes into the 'discussion' Angelina declared that either Wood was going to have them playing with the next five minutes or she was going to head back to the castle.

It seemed that everyone, including Wood sort of listened to Angelina by default. Five minutes later they were out over the field practicing with three bludgers, again. After ten minutes one thing was pretty clear, the bludgers weren't having much of an effect anymore as barely one chaser-play was disturbed by a bludger. Harry spotted Colin who was in the stands clicking photograph after photograph. Twenty minutes into the practice Harry saw several people in green robes walking towards the field, the Slytherins were on their way. Wood spotted them almost immediately too and a moment later he, the twins and Harry were zooming off towards them and landed in front of them.

"Flint!" Wood bellowed at the Slytherin Captain. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"

Marcus Flint was even larger than Wood. He had a look of trollish cunning on his face as he replied, "Plenty of room for all of us, Wood." Angelina, Alicia, and Katie had come over, too. There were no girls on the Slytherin team, who stood shoulder to shoulder, facing the Gryffindors, leering to a man.

"But I booked the field!" said Wood, positively spitting with rage. "I booked it!"

"Ah," said Flint. "But I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape. **I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker."**'

"You've got a new Seeker?" said Wood, distracted. "Where?"

And from behind the six large figures before them came a seventh, smaller boy, smirking all over his pale, pointed face. It was Draco Malfoy.

"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" said Fred, looking at Malfoy with dislike.

"Funny you should mention Draco's father," said Flint as the whole Slytherin team smiled still more broadly. "Let me show you the generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team."

All seven of them held out their broomsticks. Seven highly polished, brand-new handles and seven sets of fine gold lettering spelling the words Nimbus Two Thousand and One gleamed under the Gryffindors' noses in the early morning sun.

"Very latest model. Only came out last month," said Flint carelessly, flicking a speck of dust from the end of his own. "I believe it outstrips the old Two Thousand series by a considerable amount. As for the old Cleansweeps" – he smiled nastily at Fred and George, who were both clutching Cleansweep Fives - "sweeps the board with them."

"Way to go Malfoy. You need to buy your way into the house Quidditch team too." Harry shot out almost instantaneously. "I hope you know what you are getting into Flint, Malfoy could hardly hold a broomstick properly last year, Madame Hooch will attest to that. But of course if you don't mind playing with six-players in exchange for new brooms, I dare say 'WE' certainly don't mind that."

The Gryffindors burst into laughter and suddenly the Slytherins weren't looking so smug about their new brooms and were stealing nervous glances at Malfoy.

"Shut up Potter, I can take you in the air anytime I want." Malfoy retorted. The Gryffindors started laughing even louder. If there was one thing that they were confident about was the fact that Harry was an absolutely brilliant seeker and frankly not many could touch him on a broom. Those take-offs out of the castle-windows were proof enough.

"Well, Malfoy we shall see that in the game. Anyways I don't think you guys can practice here Flint." Harry said.

Flint looked a bit surprised. "What? Of course we can, we have a note from Professor Snape here." Flint replied and forwarded the note again.

"Yes you do. But he has no jurisdiction over the Quidditch field. Even a troll like you should know that. So that note is totally worthless unless you want to use it as toilet-paper. If you want to practice get a note from Madame Hooch or if you want to supersede her get a note from the deputy headmistress or the Headmaster. Now get lost." Harry finished with almost a smirk on his face.

Flint looked gob smacked now, but Harry had a feeling that it had to do more with the fact that he had used some big word there and Flint probably had some real problems understanding them completely. Since Flint couldn't come up with a reply he did the only thing that he could think of. He pushed back Harry and whipped out his wand. A moment later, fourteen wands were facing each other.

"Do it first, Flint and then we will bury you guys." Wood retorted.

"You bury us?" Flint retorted with a smirk. "We are seven boys and you are four boys and three girls what are you going to do?"

"You got to be kidding us Flint. Honestly how old are you? Four boys and three girls! Everyone here can do magic and trust me Angelina's left hook is real damaging." The twins retorted.

Flint didn't know how to respond to that but Malfoy pressed the trigger. He was pointing towards Katie but seeing that everyone was focused on Flint's answer he pointed towards Harry and shot out a curse. Harry saw the white light blazing towards him and instinctively jumped out of the way and avoided it completely. Harry recovered in an instant and was on his feet in an instant. The heated situation had become chaotic in those few moments. Curses and Spells were flying all around and the Gryffindors and Slytherins were trying to jump out of the way of the curses and fire away at the same time which meant that no-one was really hitting anybody.

Harry did the only thing that made sense to him. He put his wand back and jumped onto his broom and flew into the air. He gained a bit of altitude and then started dive-bombing the Slytherins. Immediately the Gryffindors stopped firing off their curses and stopped to enjoy the show. After the first pass itself half of the Slytherin team was on their backs and on the ground. The remaining were trying to shoot off curses at Harry but were not accurate at all and missing by a huge margin. Harry returned for a second pass and dived onto Pucey, Flint and Malfoy the ones who had avoided the first pass. They tried shooting off curses at him but were completely unsuccessful. A moment later they were all on their backs too as they tried to avoid the diving Harry but could not miss his legs or simply lost their balance while trying to run backwards. They tried getting up and firing off spells again but Harry was too quick to hit, finally they decided that it would be for the best if they took off and when Harry went back into the air they got up and ran off at full tilt towards the castle.

Harry landed after a moment to a small cheer from the twins and he accepted it with a mock bow.

"That was incredible mate." It was Ron who seemed to have turned up with Hermione. Harry looked up at Hermione with a bit of trepidation but she smiled a bit.

"I am not going to bite off your head, Harry. We saw the whole thing, Malfoy fired first and Flint had drawn out his wand first." Hermione replied with a bit of smile. The entire team laughed a bit at that. Hermione's fascination at adherence to rules seemed to be quite well-known.

"Wish we could nail them for that though." Angelina said. "But we have no proof, except for the word of nine Gryffindors and no-one is going to believe that.

"I have taken photographs of them too." It was Colin. Harry had completely forgotten about him. "I think I have one wherein that blonde guy shot off the first spell and I even have a photograph of that big-guy pushing Harry and drawing his wand."

Ten minutes later, Harry was waiting outside Colin's room for him to finish developing the pictures. After Colin's disclosure, Harry had flown a rather excited Colin on his broom straight to the Gryffindor tower. The rest of the team arrived a few minutes later after skipping breakfast as Snape was missing from the High table and so was the Slytherin Quidditch team. Half an hour later Colin handed over about six copies of those two pictures. They were indeed magical and clearly showed Malfoy firing off when everyone else seemed to be watching Flint. The first one showed Flint push Harry and draw out his wand first. So when a clearly irritated Percy sought out the Gryffindor team who still hadn't changed their team robes they were all in high spirits.

But Percy did not lead them to Professor McGonagall's office but to Professor Dumbledore's office. Professor McGonagall was waiting outside his office with pursed lips. After Percy left, she said 'Lemon Drops' in front of an ugly large gargoyle, which immediately sprang open. The gargoyle sprang suddenly to life and hopped aside as the wall behind him split in two. Behind the wall was a spiral staircase that was moving smoothly upward, like an escalator. As he and Professor McGonagall stepped onto it, Harry heard the wall thud closed behind them. They rose upward in circles, higher and higher, until at last, slightly dizzy, Harry saw a gleaming oak door ahead, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin.

Harry entered the room last behind the team. The Slytherin team was already in the room along with Professor Snape looking rather pleased with themselves. Harry looked around the large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises. A number of curious silver instruments stood on spindle legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were snoozing gently in their frames. There was also an enormous, claw-footed desk, and, sitting on a shelf behind it, a shabby, tattered wizard's hat - the Sorting Hat.

Professor Dumbledore was sitting behind the desk and he began the 'proceedings'. "Well now that everyone concerned is here would one of you explain what exactly happened out on the Quidditch pitch today morning which left the a few fair numbers of you injured?"

Snape immediately snapped up the opportunity and leaped into a long narration about how the Gryffindors refused to vacate the Quidditch pitch in spite of the Slytherins having permission to use the pitch and then how the Gryffindors drew out their wands first and started cursing the Slytherins and then how Harry started dive bombing them and how the Slytherins then ran away and came to him.

Professor Dumbledore nodded after Snape's narration and then turned to Wood. "Is this an accurate description of the morning's events?"

Yes, Sir it is absolutely accurate." It was Harry. The Gryffindors had decided that Harry would be their attorney if you might. But they hadn't decided what Harry had planned and hence everyone in the room including the Gryffindors was staring at Harry with an open mouth.

"You are in for it now Potter." Snape began. "I will make you pay……"

"What do you think our punishment for drawing out our wands first and illegally dueling should be Professor?" Harry interrupted Snape. Snape looked gob smacked again but out of the corner of the eye Harry saw Professor Dumbledore smiling a bit.

"I will have you expelled Potter. You and the rest of your team." Snape was actually falling for it and the Gryffindors were starting to smile a bit too.

"Are you sure Sir? Would this punishment be appropriate for anyone under similar circumstance?" Harry asked.

"Of course. It…." Snape began but stopped after noticing the twins smiling broadly now. "What do you mean Potter?"

"Well Sir, then I am glad to inform you that you as the Head of the Slytherin House will probably have seven less responsibilities." Harry replied as he drew out the photographs and handed over a pair each to Snape, Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore and another to Flint who was looking more confused than anything else.

"Sorry for lying at first Mam." Harry addressed Professor McGonagall. "But it wouldn't have been fun otherwise."

Professor McGonagall still looked grave. It was Professor Dumbledore who spoke up. "So now would you kindly explain your side of the story Harry?"

"Oh, well Wood had booked the Quidditch pitch through the proper channels for practice today morning and about twenty odd minutes after we began practice the Slytherins turned up with a note from Professor S. Snape saying that he was giving them permission to practice on the pitch inn order to teach their new seeker how to fly a broom."

The last comment wasn't missed by anyone in the room. The Gryffindors started laughing out loud this time while the Slytherins were clearly angry. Harry continued after a short pause.

"Well then we had a short argument. We, that is the Gryffindors were of the opinion that the note was illegal and completely useless and carried no authority as Professor Snape has no jurisdiction over the Quidditch field and Wood had booked the field through the right channels. Then Flint got angry, pushed me and drew out his wand. So we drew out our wands and then Malfoy fired out the first spell at me and the rest of the story is quite true. I did dive bomb them and then drove them away. So, you see Sir; this mess wouldn't have happened if Snape hadn't overstepped his authority and….."

"Mr. Potter! That is quite enough." Professor McGonagall interrupted Harry.

Harry stopped. He knew that he had made his point all right. He stole a glance at Snape who was red in the face probably with both anger and embarrassment. Professor McGonagall was looking at Professor Dumbledore who in turn was looking straight at Harry. Harry immediately stopped smiling. After a moment Professor Dumbledore spoke up.

"The Slytherin team will serve a week's worth of detention and fifty house points are to be deducted from Slytherin. The Gryffindor team will serve a detention each too and fifty points from Gryffindor." Professor Dumbledore held up a hand towards Harry as he was about to speak up to protest. "The Slytherins might have started it however dueling is against the rules in Hogwarts and so is dive-bombing. Any questions?"

Harry was not happy at all. He knew that the Slytherins were certainly not going to be expelled but he hadn't expected them to get off so lightly either and he certainly hadn't expected themselves to be punished either. Frankly he knew at the back of his mind that some points might be taken away or something but a detention each he felt was a bit over the top. And with Snape in-charge of Slytherins' detentions they would probably be a walk in the park for them. But he guessed that Professor Dumbledore would have looked highly unfair otherwise so he tried to swallow his irritation more than anything.

"Very well than you can all go, you will be informed about your detentions beforehand by your respective heads."

The fourteen students started leaving the office and Harry almost had a feeling that after everyone left the office was becoming smaller and smaller. He was the last one to go and by then he was sure that the office was shortening everytime someone left it. He looked around for one last time and the look of surprise must have shown on his face because Professor Dumbledore stopped him.

"Are you wondering about something Harry?"

"Err, does the room you know expand and contract magically to fit-in enough people or something?" Harry asked a bit hesitantly.

Professor Dumbledore smiled widely at that. "Yes indeed it does. Though I have never seen anyone realize that on their first visit here."

"Oh, well I guess most students would be rather nervous at first visit to the Headmaster's office." Harry replied.

"And you weren't nervous Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked looking a bit surprised.

Harry smiled. "Why would I be nervous? We were right from the start and we had photographic evidence, it was practically fun…….."

"FUN Potter!" Harry had almost forgotten that Snape was in the room too. "You Gryffindors especially Gryffindor Potters are arrogant, bigheaded……"

But Harry interrupted him. "Frankly Sir that was my Slytherin side acting up. As a Gryffindor I wouldn't have tried to put you in a pickle or something, I simply would have walked in and handed over the photographs."

"What do you mean the Slytherin side, Harry?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Well, the Sorting Hat told me that both Slytherin and Gryffindor would have suited me just fine and sort of devised a test to see where I would go. But since I insisted on Gryffindor he put me there." Harry finished.

The three professors were sitting dead quiet and Harry thought for a moment that Professor Dumbledore looked almost distressed, but then a beautiful sound suddenly started to fill up the room and as Harry watched a magnificent bird entered the room through the open window and landed on a golden perch. The bird had beautiful gold and red plumage. He had a long golden beak with beady eyes which were fixed on Harry rather intently even as he trilled a few notes which made Harry's heart soar with happiness and he couldn't help smiling.

He looked up and saw that Professor Dumbledore was smiling again. "This is Fawkes, he is a phoenix. He has been my loyal companion for a long time now."

Harry nodded but his attention was still riveted on the phoenix, Fawkes; he never ever had seen someone so beautiful, besides Ginny of course. Suddenly Fawkes took off again and landed on Harry's shoulder. Harry almost flinched wondering if his sharp claws would hurt but Fawkes landed rather gently. After a moment of hesitation Harry petted Fawkes and was rewarded with another note. A few moments later Fawkes took off again and landed back on his golden perch.

"Well Harry it seems that Fawkes likes you, he doesn't allow anyone to pet him. Only Hagrid, I and now you are allowed to do so."

The rest of Harry's day was relatively normal, unless you counted Percy giving the entire team grief about loosing Gryffindor 50-points. Ron, Harry and the twins had finally decided that they would go through with their long delayed excursion that night. Hermione forced Ron and Harry to finish the homework assigned for the week before they went about on their jaunts and they did just that and as Peeves had already helped them with their History essay they actually finished before Hermione. At about 11:00pm, Harry, Ron and the twins found themselves alone in the common room and they knew that it was time.

Ten minutes later, Ron and Harry had deposited their bags in their dorms and were back with the invisibility cloak in a bag. Harry wasn't quite ready to show the twins the cloak but he got it along just in case. The twins were already waiting for them in the common room with nothing but an old flimsy of parchment in their hands.

"Ready to go guys?" Harry asked the twins. They simply nodded. "All-right the entrance is just off the centaur statue down the corridor, lets go." Harry was surprised to see that the twins exchanged an enormous look of surprise; it seemed that they still refused to believe that there could be a passageway in the castle that they didn't know. The four made their way out of the portrait hole and towards the statue. They reached the statue and then Harry put his hand on the centaur's hoof and said the password, 'elves'. No sooner had he done that, a panel on the wall slid open. The twins were staring open-mouthed at the panel and Harry.

"Cat got your tongue guys?" Ron asked them jovially. "C'mon lets go it's still a long trek to the kitchens."

The four entered the trapdoor and then Harry pressed the knob on the wall and the panel shut back. They trekked down the long winding staircase in the light of their wands in absolute silence. As they were climbing down Harry realized something, there were knobs on the walls on certain intervals. They stopped at one and Fred pushed a knob. A panel in the wall slid through immediately. The looked out and realized that they were on the floor of the Hospital Wing and there was a statue of an unicorn right outside the door.

"That's interesting, there is an entrance on every floor of the castle; wonder if the way to get in is the same too." Ron wondered out aloud.

"Maybe." Harry replied. "But we aren't going to try that tonight, maybe sometime later." Everyone agreed and a few minutes later they found themselves in the kitchens. Surprisingly Chucky or any other elf did not show-up. "Where do the elves sleep at night?" Harry wondered out aloud.

"They don't." Fred stated. "They clean the castle at night that is why I guess the kitchens are empty at night." And George finished. "Well guys got to give it to you, we didn't know this passageway and neither did the Marauders." The twins said in twin-speak.

"Who are the Marauders?" Ron asked.

"Not here, lets go back into the passageway and we will show you." The twins said and then they made it back into the staircase and shut the stone-panel. They got out the old folded piece of parchment and opened it up. "All-right guys this is the secret to our success in jolly old Hogwarts. We owe it to the Marauders."

"An old piece of parchment?" Ron looked rather doubtful.

"A bit of old parchment!" said Fred, closing his eyes with a grimace as though Ron had mortally offended him. "Explain, George."

"Well... when we were in our first year, little ones -- young, carefree, and innocent --"

Harry snorted. He doubted whether Fred and George had ever been innocent.

"Well, more innocent than we are now -- we got into a spot of bother with Filch."

"We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason

--"

"So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual --" detention disembowelment and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked Confiscated and Highly Dangerous.

"Don't tell me --" said Harry, starting to grin.

"Well, what would you've done?" said Fred. "George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb; I whipped the drawer open, and grabbed -- this."

"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know," said George. "We don't reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have confiscated it."

"And you know how to work it?" Ron asked.

"Oh yes," said Fred, smirking. "This little beauty's taught us more than all the teachers in this school."

"You're winding us up," said Harry, looking at the ragged old bit of parchment.

"Oh, are we?" said George. He took out his wand, touched the parchment lightly, and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

And at once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider's web from the point that George's wand had touched. They joined each other, they crisscrossed, they fanned into every corner of the parchment; then words began to blossom across the top, great, curly green words, that proclaimed:

_**Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief Makers are proud to present THE MARAUDER'S MAP.**_

It was a map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. But the truly remarkable thing was the tiny ink dots moving around it, each labeled with a name in minuscule writing. Astounded, Harry bent over it. A labeled dot in the top left corner showed that Professor Dumbledore was pacing his study; the caretaker's cat, Mrs. Norris, was prowling the second floor; and Peeves was currently bouncing around the trophy room. And as Harry's eyes traveled up and down the familiar corridors, he noticed something else, the staircase to the kitchens and even a lot of other shortcuts that Peeves had shown them were not on the map.

"The map is incomplete." Harry said. "But boy it is brilliant. No wonder you never get caught. I guess these are all the corridors that Filch knows about…."

"That's the beauty little Harrikins." The twins began. "Filch doesn't know about all the passageways either. You see these three leading out of the castle and straight into Hogsmeade. Well Filch we are pretty sure doesn't know about them. But the whomping willow is right over the third one. So we actually have two tunnels to Hogsmeade of which Filch has absolutely no idea."

Harry looked back at the map once again. The only problem with the map was that once you tried to look over the common-rooms and dormitories, the names became all rather cluttered. Harry could hardly make out one name from among the names in any of the dorms and he stopped when it started hurting his eyes a bit.

"It's simply bloody brilliant." Ron exclaimed for the third time as he looked up from the map. "Look we know where all the common-rooms are. This is mind-blowing. Who were these Marauders anyways?"

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," sighed George, patting the heading of the map. "We owe them so much."

"Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers," said Fred solemnly.

"How do you convert it back into a parchment?" Ron asked.

"Well that's easy. You just tap it with your wand and say, 'Mischief Managed' and it goes blank again." The twins supplied as Fred tapped it and said those very words and the map went blank. "Remember, you guys want to borrow it anytime, just say so. I think the marauders would have liked it; you two have pranked a bloody professor. I wonder if that has ever been achieved before."

The four laughed and started the long climb back to the Gryffindor common-room. The twins checked to see if the common-room and the corridor outside they were empty and then they went into it. They all sat on the couch contemplating the night's events.

"How do you think these four guys managed to make something so magically complex and powerful?" Ron broke the silence.

"No idea. But they had to be bloody brilliant. We tried to find a book in the library on magical maps. But couldn't find any, not even a single line not even in the restricted section."

"Maybe there is a secret library in Hogwarts that ran into." Harry supplied. "Must ask Peeves."

"PEEVES?" the twins roared.

Harry groaned, he didn't want to give that away, but he could probably trust the twins. He looked at Ron, who nodded. "How do you think we find out all the passageways? Trial and Error? And all our History essays are thanks to Peeves too and hence the top marks. It seems that old Binns doesn't like his own notes too much." Harry scoffed and then launched into Peeves' story. To say that the twins were surprised would be an understatement. They were quite literally shocked and speechless.

"Well got to give it to you two. You really have managed a coup in Hogwarts." The twins acknowledged.

"You think we could improve that map?" Harry asked.

"Not unless you start from scratch on another parchment." Fred replied protectively.

"Yeah of course, which means we need to find the original spells for that." Harry replied and was silent for a moment. "Who were they anyways? I mean, Moony, Wormtail, Prongs and Padfoot can't be real names. For all we know, they might have graduated a year before you two found out the map."

The twins were silent for a moment and it was Ron who had an idea. "You said the drawer in Filch's cabinet was labeled 'Confiscated and something, something' wasn't it?" The twins nodded so Ron continued. "Maybe Filch documented from whom and when he confiscated the map?"

The twins faces lit up like Christmas had been declared early. "Little Ronnikens you are quite the strategist. Filch does keep a register but that would be a huge list. He keeps records of confiscated dungbombs and all."

"Do you know where that register is? I know it is a long shot. For all we know, this might have been confiscated 20 years ago……." Harry began but was interrupted by Fred.

"It is a huge register and the first entry is dated 1963/4-odd. I remember noticing that when he confiscated our cache of dungbombs in the second year. The map cannot be older than that."

Harry and Ron exchanged a look and both nodded at the same time. They were going to get the register tonight itself. "We are going to go and get that register tonight, where is it kept?" Harry asked the twins.

"The register is on his desk itself. But how are you going to do that without getting caught?" George asked.

"We have some resources at our disposal. Don't worry about us." Ron replied and headed towards the portrait-hole.

"What resources?" The twins asked.

"It isn't our secret to tell guys. Do wait-up for us." Harry replied as he followed Ron out of the portrait hole.

"I feel bad about not telling the twins about the cloak. But it is……"Harry started but Ron interrupted.

"It's all-right Harry. If I had only one thing belonging to my father, I don't think I would have done anything else. C'mon now we need to hurry."

Harry got out the invisibility cloak and the two went under it. Ten minutes later they found themselves outside of Filch's office. Ron tried the door which was unlocked. After a quick look inside entered the office. The register was rather conspicuous on the desk. It really was big and certainly looked heavy.

"Think we can carry it out?" Ron asked. Harry didn't reply instead simply stepped outside the cloak and lifted the register. It was heavier than it looked. Finally after a few moments he managed to lift the register and he got back into the cloak. The register slowed them down considerably. It took Ron and Harry almost twenty five minutes to reach the common-room. They reached the portrait hole, stuffed the cloak back into the bag and said out the password to a supposedly sleeping Fat Lady. The Fat Lady swung open without opening her eyes. Harry had expected the twins to have dozed off, but they were wide awake poring over the map.

Ron and Harry silently made their way to the couch and flipped the register open. There were three columns on each page.

Date

Student/s responsible

Item

The list was pretty exhaustive. Filch it seemed noted down everything from dungbombs to firecrackers to winged quills. The four pored over the pages and started diligently reading every entry on every page. They were looking for any kind of entry to do with parchment or insulting parchment. The twins had told Ron and Harry that the map used to reply back many times insults when they were trying to find the password to it. They had only reached 1972 when dawn started breaking over. But no-one was feeling sleepy. Deciding that it was better if they took the register to the kitchen staircase, they made their way to the centaur and opened the stone-slide. There was some space just beyond the stone-slide and they settled right there and re-started the reading. As they made their way into 1973, the entries got more and more interesting for Harry at least. On every page there was at least one entry in the name of James Potter or Sirius Black and to a lesser extent there were entries in the name of Remus Lupin.

"Whoa Harry your father certainly seemed to be best of friends with Filch." George said.

"Father and Godfather and Guardian." Harry corrected him. He didn't mind sharing that information with the twins.

"WHAT?" The twins replied simultaneously. "You have a godfather and a guardian? Why the hell are you living with the Dursleys?" The twins asked.

Harry was silent for a few moments. "My guardian is one Remus Lupin. He is a werewolf and hence by law barred from being a guardian. My godfather is one Sirius Black. He is serving a life sentence in Azkaban for mass-murder."

The twins were shocked to their very bones and the shock showed on their faces. Harry simply turned his attention back to the register and began reading again.

"We don't know what to say Harry." The twins said after a few moments.

"Forget it guys. As Ron said most prisoners in Azkaban either die or go insane within a few years and from what I have gathered about werewolves, I don't think I am ever going to get to meet anyone of them. I just kind of try to forget it and move on. And please don't mention about this to anyone, strictly speaking I am not supposed to know that they even exist."

The twins nodded after a minute and the four began concentrating on the register again. It looked like James Potter and Sirius Black really were Filch's favourite students. They had Dungbomb confiscations once at least every week. They were finally going through the year 1977 when they struck gold.

16/2/1977

James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew.

Talking Parchment.

Nobody spoke for a few minutes. Thoughts were swirling through Harry's mind at such speed that he could hardly concentrate on a single thought. The map belonged to his father and his friends, was the world a small place and a sad small world at that. Harry looked up after a few minutes to realize that the three Weasleys were staring at him.

"Well at least we found out who the Marauders are." Harry said trying to break the tension that seemed to have built up. "C'mon guys I am fine. Okay I might be a little shocked but that's it. I mean c'mon I hardly have anything of my father it is nice to know that the map once belonged to my father. Cheer up."

The twins exchanged a look and were about to speak up but Harry spotted that and guessed what they were trying to say. "Before you say anything guys, the map stays with you. You were going to let me borrow it anyways. So nothing changes."

The twins nodded and the four were quiet for a few moments again before Ron broke the silence. "I guess Remus Lupin would be Moony as he is a werewolf."

"But I had read that werewolves are blood-thirsty monsters or something even when they are in the human form." Harry replied.

"Then the books must be wrong or perhaps prejudiced. If this Lupin attended Hogwarts, then I guess werewolves might be normal during the non full-moon days." The twins said. "Maybe you can write to him or something after-all."

Harry thought over it. There was a very good chance that the books were indeed wrong or as the twins had put it 'prejudiced'. There still might be a chance that Remus Lupin could after-all be normal during the rest of the month. "I don't know guys, I mean if he is indeed normal during the rest of the month, why in the world has he never come and met me?"

"You could still write to him." Ron reasoned.

"Maybe." Harry replied after a moment. He wanted to write to him but he was also angry a bit, rather a lot with Lupin. His parents had been dead for over almost 11-years now and Remus Lupin had never even once come and visited him. Maybe tell him the truth. Your parents were killed by an evil wizard and not in a car accident. They were bloody brilliant not some unemployed imbeciles that the Dursleys had portrayed them as. Yeah he was not going to write to Lupin. If Lupin could simply forget about Harry, Harry could simply ignore Lupin too.

Harry spent the rest of the day lounging around in the bed. He had a huge breakfast and then decided to skip, lunch and dinner all-together. Ron had told Hermione the entire story including the existence of the map. She tried to convince the two to hand in such a dangerous object at first but stopped when Ron told her that the map belonged to Harry's dad and his friends. Though she spent over three hours in the library trying to search for a book on magical maps but was rather unsuccessful.

The following Saturday. Harry and the team were to serve detention. The team had been divided between many professors. Unfortunately for Harry, he was to serve detention with Lockhart. Lockhart had him answering his fan-mail. He felt that it would be excellent practice for Harry in the future. The detention had lasted for almost four hours and those were the most torturous four hours that Harry had spent in his life. It was at the end of the detention that something very interesting happened.

Harry was almost dozing off, when he heard something. It was a voice, a voice to chill the bone marrow, a voice of breathtaking, ice-cold venom.

_**"Come ... come to me... Let me rip you... Let me tear you... Let me kill you..."**_

While Harry had heard it, the self-involved Lockhart had went on droning about some fan of his and refused to believe that Harry had heard something like that and said that Harry might have been tired and then he let Harry go. Ron and Hermione were quite interested after hearing about the story but the trio couldn't do anything about it. Ron had hit the nail on the head. "Hearing voices that no-one else can hear is not a good sign even in the magical world.'

October had arrived bringing along with it high winds and heavy winds and a bout of cold to Hogwarts. The cold kept Madame Pomfrey busy and she kept a considerable supply of pepper-up potion for the inflicted. Even Ginny who was looking pale had been bullied into taking a dose by Percy. Harry felt a pang in his chest everytime he saw her and everytime he thought of her (which was a lot of times), but he could hardly spend anytime with her. She practically fled the common-room everytime she noticed Harry and the rest of the time she was so nervous around him that even a small cursory smile made her topple over things or go beet-red.

Wood had increased Quidditch practices to four times a week after the twins reported that the Nimbus 2001 was really, really, really fast. The Slytherin team was nothing but a picture of seven green blurs flying around on the pitch. Wood refused to cancel any practices even when it was pouring outside. He infact even had a practice session when the Hufflepuffs had cancelled theirs due to the heavy rains. As a result Harry had taken to flying through the window at the top of the Gryffindor tower again as Filch used to give them grief everytime they walked in all wet and muddy.

Harry's lessons were all coming around rather nicely, except for Defence. Lockhart had started reading passages out of his book as a way of teaching and needless to say that hadn't found favour with any of the students. Hermione however still insisted on giving Lockhart at least a term saying that he was probably simply nervous about teaching. The once class that all the Gryffindors now enjoyed was Potions. It seemed that all those extra practice sessions in the common-room had really paid dividends. There wasn't a single Potion that all the Gryffindors hadn't managed to brew with at least some degree of success. But what pleased the Gryffindors most was that Snape seemed to blow a gasket everytime a Slytherin messed-up a potion but none of the Gryffindors did that. Ron and Harry were still receiving full marks in every single History essay to Hermione's greatest consternation and she too had finally stopped taking notes in Binns' classes and instead had started reading Harry and Ron's essays before writing her own homework assignment.

Finally it was Halloween and a holiday from the classes and perhaps more importantly from Lockhart. Harry had the first free afternoon in many days and he was planning on spending it in his bed. Wood however had completely different plans. It seemed that the Gryffindor team did not have practically any practices on a clear day and Wood had seized the first opportunity of a clear day to hold a practice, on Halloween afternoon. That of course meant that the afternoon nap was out of the window.

The team had returned to the common-room completely exhausted and with barely 10-minutes left for the Halloween feast to begin. Harry decided to forgo the feast as he was feeling more tired than hungry and laid down on his bed without even changing his Quidditch robes and he was asleep within a few moments. He was suddenly awakened by the high and cold and chilling voice that he had heard at Lockhart's.

_**". . . rip . . . tear . . . kill . . ."**_ Harry was awake within a moment. The voice was very faint almost inaudible bur somehow it had managed to wake him up. He was up and out of the dorm and into the common-room when he heard it again.

_**". . . soo hungry . . . for so long . . ."**_ The voice was still very faint and Harry guessed that it was coming from the lower floors. In an instant he was out of the common-room and heading at full tilt towards the dungeons.

_**". . . Kill . . . time to kill . . ."**_ He had reached about the first floor and he stopped in his tracks right there. The thing whatever it was, was about to kill someone and probably only Harry was hearing it. A moment later he started running again when he heard something that chilled Harry to his bones.

"…_**..I smell blood. . . . I SMELL BLOOD!"**_ That thing was about to strike any moment now but where. The sound seemed to be coming from near the corridor in the Great Hall. Harry raced along the corridors again and a minute later he reached the corridor outside the Great Hall and he stopped in his tracks.

Something was shining on the wall ahead. He approached slowly, squinting through the darkness. Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the flaming torches. The chamber of secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.

Harry's heart skipped a beat after reading the words. He advanced with great trepidation towards the wall and noticed something hung on the wall. As he drew near the wall the 'something' became clearer. It wasn't something but someone. It was Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat.

The moment he saw the cat Harry knew that staying there wouldn't be advisable at all. He took another look at the cat and then took off again at lightning speed from that corridor. Even as he turned around the corner, he heard the sound of the benches scraping in the Great Hall and he knew that any moment now, the cat was going to be discussed. A couple of minutes later he made his way to the third floor corridor and settled down in Peeves' classroom.

There sure was something loose in the castle, something that only he seemed to be able to hear. Now it was killing. It might only have been a cat today, but it easily could have been a student. And what in the world was the Chamber of Secrets? He had never heard of it before, he really needed to ask Peeves about it. Halloween somehow seemed to be always screwed up for Harry. It was the troll last year and now this disembodied voice this year which seemed to be out killing people. As he thought over it he suddenly realized that Voldemort had killed his parents on Halloween too and suddenly the troll and the voice seemed to pale in comparison and he started berating himself for not even remembering before. His parents had literally sacrificed their lives for him and he didn't even have the courtesy of remembering them.

Harry wasn't quite sure for how long was he in the classroom but when he finally decided to return to the common-room, he was pretty sure that it was beyond curfew. Feeling quite depressed than anything and thinking about how his life perhaps would have been had his parents been alive he started making his way back to the Gryffindor Tower. He hadn't made it even a single floor above the Charms corridor when he was waylaid by Professor Sprout.

"Mr. Potter? Is that you Mr. Potter?" Professor Sprout asked from behind Harry. When he turned around he found a very grave looking Professor Sprout looking back at him. Harry guessed that the fate of Mrs. Norris had quite shocked him. "Follow me Mr. Potter." She commanded and then turned around and started making her way across the wing and onto the second floor. Harry followed her on practically auto-pilot and after a few minutes found himself in front of the Professor's Common Room.

Harry entered the room still thinking about his parents. No sooner had he entered the room that he felt as if some kind of wind was blowing in his head. He snapped up and looked at Snape who was indeed looking at him and Harry felt the wind suddenly stop blowing in his head. He looked around the room and realized that practically every Hogwarts' Professor and Professor Dumbledore were inside the room and they were all looking at him rather suspiciously.

"Potter why are you still in your Quidditch robes?" It was Snape who Harry felt was almost looking triumphantly at him.

"Because I haven't changed out of them, Sir." Harry replied feeling a bit irritated. As he looked around he noticed Filch sitting on a chair with Mrs. Norris laid out on the table in front of him stiff as a board and Filch was stroking her back.

"Mr. Potter, kindly show some respect to Professor Snape." Professor McGonagall berated him almost immediately.

"What happened to Mrs. Norris?" Harry asked, he had a feeling that she wasn't dead from the look on Filch's face.

"We are hoping that you would be able to tell us that, Potter." Snape replied with a smirk on his face.

"Eh?" Harry replied intelligently. Had they heard the voice too or had Ron and Hermione said something about the voice or had someone seen him in the corridor. It was confusion galore in Harry's mind.

"Mr. Potter, you were not there at the Halloween Feast nor were you there in the common-room." Professor McGonagall replied.

Harry still had a look of confusion on his face. He still couldn't figure out where the entire conversation was headed unless…….

"You think that I killed Mrs. Norris!" Harry exclaimed out aloud. "That is insane. Why would I kill her?"

"We are not accusing you of anything Harry. It is just that, you were the only student unaccounted for after the Halloween feast and so we are all wondering where exactly you were. Professor Sprout also found you well after curfew." Professor Dumbledore said.

Harry wondered for a moment whether he should tell them about the voice but Ron's words held him back. "I was alone……I had things to do." Harry replied hesitantly.

"Aha, things to do Potter? Whom do you take us for? Idiots?" Snape seemed to be at his best. "Unless you can answer where you were well past curfew and why you are still in your Quidditch robes you are my primary suspect." Snape finished with a triumphant gleam in his eyes.

Harry was staring with an open mouth at Snape. He knew that Snape hated him, but really this was quite far enough. "Are you trying to get back at me or something for me naming you as our primary suspect who wanted to steal the stone?"

"That's quite enough." It was Professor Dumbledore. "Both of you. Where were you Harry?"

Harry took a deep-breath. "I was in an empty class-room in the Charms corridor."

"Why were you there alone Potter?" Snape immediately jumped back into the fray.

"It's Halloween today." Harry replied a bit gloomily.

"We know what day is…….." began Snape almost instantly and practically bit his tongue to stop himself from speaking anymore. And unless Harry was mistaken Snape was actually looking a bit sad and almost a guilty. Harry looked around the room and realized that almost all the Professors had a similar look of a bit of grief and a bit of guilt on their faces. It was very quiet in the room for almost a full minute.

"Very well Harry. You may return back to your dormitory and just for you to know, Mrs. Norris is not dead, she is simply petrified and will be revived in due course." Professor Dumbledore said. Harry took another look around the room and left the room to head back to the tower.

Back in the Professor's room it was still very quiet. It was Professor McGonagall who spoke up. "What do you think Albus?"

Albus Dumbledore took a deep breath. "He certainly wasn't lying about why he was alone. However I did sense a 'but' in there but I don't think that he had anything to do with the petrification."

After the incident with Mrs. Norris at Halloween, Harry had the worst possible time in Hogwarts. When he had returned back to the common-room that night, he had found every Gryffindor in the common-room waiting for him and the moment he had entered, a barrage of questions were directed at him. It seemed that quite a few of the Gryffindor believed that he was the one who had attacked Mrs. Norris.

Percy it seemed was his most vocal detractor among the Gryffindors. Percy had tried to literally interrogate him for about 15mins. Before Ron lost his temper and reminded Percy that Harry had already been through an interrogation with Professor Dumbledore. Percy did stop his 'interrogation' after that, but he still clearly was of the opinion that Harry was the attacker and had somehow managed to convince the Professors of his 'innocence'.

After everyone in the castle had either read or heard about the entire story about the 'Chamber of Secrets' Harry got a new title. Now in addition to the title 'The Boy who lived' Harry was now also know as the 'Slytherin's Heir'. It didn't seem to matter that someone like Professor Dumbledore had never managed to find the Chamber of secrets. It didn't help that somehow everyone in Hogwarts seemed to know that the Sorting Hat had said that the Slytherin house too would have been perfect for Harry. After that a lot of people had been moving around Harry with great trepidation. The twins seemed to think that the idea that Harry was the heir was rather ridiculous and went to great lengths to ridicule it in front of everyone. They would move around in the corridors in front of Harry and announce loudly that Harry was off to the chambers to have a cup of tea with the monster in the chamber. Percy wasn't too pleased with either and tried to lecture them about it but they simply blew him off. Though the twins did stop when Harry noticed and told the twins that Ginny seemed to tear-up everytime the twins did their Harry the Heir gig. All in all, it was a madhouse.

It however got madder when Hermione showed up in the boys' dormitory one weekend and magically sealed the door behind her.

"I need to talk to you and you need to listen very carefully." She began.

"Yeah, we got that idea from the sealed door and all." Harry replied.

"Shut-up, no wisecracks please." Hermione said and then took a deep-breath before continuing. "Who do you think is the heir of the Slytherin?"

"Malfoy." Ron replied instantaneously. "What?" He exclaimed on observing the look on Harry's face. "You weren't there that day. The way he said 'you will be next mud bloods' was I don't know quite malicious."

"Look, all we know about the chamber is that, it does exist and it was opened about 50 years ago and it has a monster that makes a noise that only I can hear. That's all. We have practically nothing to work on and Malfoy is too long a shot." Harry replied.

"There is no harm in trying to confirm it." Hermione argued.

"How exactly do you plan on doing that?" Harry asked back.

"We will make Polyjuice Potion and then interrogate him. You two can be Crabbe and Goyle and then you can ask him about the Chamber." Hermione replied.

Harry thought over it for a moment. "If you were the heir Hermione, would you tell so to someone like Crabbe and Goyle?"

Hermione thought over it for a moment and then simply shook her head. "But then what do we do Harry? We have to find out who is responsible."

"We simply leave it to Professor Dumbledore; I don't think that this heir is going to be better that him. So don't worry about it. Okay?" Harry asked Hermione and she nodded after a moment. "Good now tell me, do you still believe that Lockhart is a….." Harry began but stopped after Hermione looked at him ready to kill.

Harry woke up on the morning of Gryffindor's Quidditch match with Slytherin nervous like hell. He was damn nervous about what Wood would say or do if they lost the match. But he was even more anxious about the fact that they were going to be facing a team flying on the fastest brooms that gold could buy. And the fact that the Slytherins never played fair didn't help his mood at all. As if that wasn't enough Harry knew at the back of his mind that Slytherins weren't half bad Quidditch players. Even though he had ridiculed Malfoy's flying he knew that Malfoy could fly decently, not as good as himself but then when you are on the fastest broom ever made, small things like skill hardly make any difference.

Finally Harry couldn't take it anymore and headed to the showers and then put on his Quidditch robes and headed to the Great Hall. He reached the Great Hall to find that the rest of the team was already there at 7'o clock on a Saturday the morning, all sitting in a straight line on one side of the table, drinking coffee and tea silently. Even the twins were completely silent. Harry settled down between Angelina and the twins and poured himself a cup of coffee too and simply sat observing the cup instead of drinking it just like the rest of the team was doing.

"Potter you are looking rather nervous today. Scared about the match? Would you like to forfeit it beforehand so as not to go through the embarrassment of being defeated heavily?" It was Snape. He was sporting a Slytherin muffler, making his allegiance quite clear.

Cursing his luck that Snape had to be the first one to enter the Great Hall Harry began thinking of a reply. He was quite sure that had any other Professor been in the Great Hall, Snape would never have delivered his little speech. Harry looked at Snape and realized something and began smiling.

"Why are you smiling Potter? Cat got you tongue?" Snape asked a bit of irritation creeping into his voice.

Harry smiled even more widely at that. "I just realized something Sir. The last time you tried to undermine our team at Quidditch you ended up with a rotten egg on your face and a broken broomstick on your hands and we won by 150-points. I think it's sort of a good-luck charm for us. Thanks for all the luck we all really owe you one."

The tension among the Gryffindor team broke immediately as the twins started laughing out loudly and the rest couldn't help smile either. Snape it seemed couldn't come up with an answer to that and stalked away to the High Table and settled onto his usual place sulking into his cup of tea. The team stopped laughing after a few moments and almost immediately everyone went back to staring at their coffee-cups.

"You know, the coffee is meant to be drunk not stared at." It was Professor McGonagall who too had sneaked up to the team. The team looked up at their Head and then shifted their attention back to the cups without even replying or literally acknowledging her. "Do not be so nervous. It doesn't matter whether you win or lose. The important……"

No sooner were the words 'lose' out of her mouth Wood and Angelina snapped up their heads towards her with an identical look on their faces that clearly said that they didn't agree with her at all. The look was intense enough to stop her in mid-speech. "All the Best for the match. I hope you do your best today." Professor McGonagall simply wished them and then walked away towards the High Table.

As the rest of the school started trickling in for breakfast, Wood decided that it was time for the team to be in the dressing rooms and nobody complained even though it was barely an quarter past eight. The team spent the remaining time before the 11'o clock start doing practically the same thing that they were doing at breakfast. At about half past ten Wood got up and started pacing around the changing rooms like a caged tiger. Finally he stopped and faced his team.

"All-right guys. They have better brooms, faster brooms. We can't deny that. But we have better people on the brooms." Wood paused for a moment as the twins cheered loudly and the rest of the team joined in a moment later. "We have practiced in every possible kind of condition. We have practiced when other teams have cancelled their practices and I have a feeling that this is going to be one of those days. We have practiced with three bludgers and we have got bloody good with them. So lets go out there and beat the bloody rich Slytherins!" Woos finished with a flourish and to a big cheer from the rest of the team.

"Before we go out just another thing." Wood said. "Harry there is no denying it, you are the best that we have on a broom and you will be the one who can make up the most against their brooms. So it is going to boil down to you. Catch the snitch or die trying." Wood finished, turned around and made his way towards the tunnel.

"So no pressure little Harrikins." Fred winked on his way towards the tunnel.

As they made their way towards the pitch Harry noticed that the sky was indeed overcast. He took out his wand and performed a water-repelling charm on his glasses. As they walked out onto the pitch, a roar of noise greeted them; mainly cheers, because Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were anxious to see Slytherin beaten; the Nimbus 2001s had clearly not made the Slytherins any more popular. But the Slytherins in the crowd made their boos and hisses heard, too. Harry looked around the stands, it seemed that the entire school was in the stands. The only person who didn't seem to be there was Professor Dumbledore. Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher, asked Flint and Wood to shake hands, which they did, giving each other threatening stares and gripping rather harder than was necessary.

"On my whistle," said Madam Hooch. "Three ... two ... one. . .

With a roar from the crowd to speed them upward, the fourteen players rose toward the leaden sky. Harry flew higher than any of them, squinting around for the Snitch. No sooner was he in the air Malfoy shot from under him as he sought to show off the speed of his broom. But Harry had no time to contemplate Malfoy's speed because at that very instant a black iron ball came flying at him from behind. Harry barely swerved out of the way and narrowly avoided the collision. The bludger literally brushed his hair on the way.

"Close one, Harry!" said George, streaking past him with his club in his hand, ready to knock the Bludger back toward a Slytherin. Harry saw George give the Bludger a powerful whack in the direction of Adrian Pucey, but the Bludger changed direction in midair and shot straight for Harry again. Harry dropped quickly to avoid it, and George managed to hit it hard towards Malfoy. Once again, the Bludger swerved like a boomerang and shot at Harry's head.

Harry picked-up some speed and shot to the other end of the field. But a few moments later he heard the distinct whistling sound of the bludger coming up from behind him. He ducked, avoiding the bludger just in time again. He couldn't seem to figure out what was happening. As far as he knew bludgers were never supposed to concentrate on a single player before.

Fred, who was at the other end whammed the bludger in another direction but once again it changed direction mid-flight and made for Harry again. This time George made it over and slammed the bludger away but it kept on coming back at Harry. Fred and George could do nothing but fly around Harry, taking turns at hitting the bludger away from him again and again.

It had started to rain; Harry felt heavy drops fall onto his face, splattering onto his glasses. He didn't have a clue what was going on in the rest of the game until he heard Lee Jordan, who was commentating, say, "Slytherin lead, sixty points to zero."

The Slytherins' superior brooms were clearly doing their jobs, and meanwhile the mad Bludger was doing all it could to knock Harry out of the air. Fred and George were now flying so close to him on either side that Harry could see nothing at all except their flailing arms and had no chance to look for the Snitch, let alone catch it.

"Someone's - tampered - with - this - Bludger -" Fred grunted, swinging his bat with all his might at it as it launched a new attack on Harry.

"We need time out," said George, trying to signal to Wood and stop the Bludger breaking Harry's nose at the same time. Wood had obviously got the message. Madam Hooch's whistle rang out and Harry, Fred, and George dived for the ground, still trying to avoid the mad Bludger.

"What the hell is going on?" Wood was quite livid. "We are being killed. And where the hell are you two, the bludgers are are breaking each of our chaser formations."

"Bludger Oliver not plural. The second one hasn't left Harry alone for the entire match. We have been trying to save Harry from having his head blown off by it. Someone, hell the Slytherins has tampered with it." Fred and George replied.

"But the Bludgers have been locked in Madam Hooch's office since our last practice, and there was nothing wrong with them then . . . ." said Wood, anxiously.

Harry looked around. Madame Hooch had started walking towards them and the Slytherins were jeering at them. "Listen leave me alone to deal with the bludger. With you two around me, I will only catch the snitch if it flies up my sleeves."

"Don't be mad, it will take off your head." Fred exclaimed.

Wood was staring alternatively from the twins to Harry. "This madness Oliver. Lets ask for an enquiry." Angelina said.

"We stop now. We forfeit the match and I am not losing to Slytherin over a rogue bludger." Harry was getting quite worked up now. "Listen I have got an idea. With that thing flying around me, there is a minimal chance that I can catch the snitch. You girls have to win it for us." Harry said pointing to the chasers.

"We are all on Cleansweeps Harry…."Alicia began but Harry interrupted her.

"Listen to me, I will stop looking for the snitch completely and in the meanwhile interrupt their chaser plays with the help of the mad bludger. I know they are on faster brooms but they can't go at full speed during a play. The bludger will hopefully take care of their plays and then you guys need to score. We need 22 or more goals and some damn good saving from you Wood and you guys concentrate on Malfoy. If he goes after the snitch only you and you can stop him. C'mon guys we can still do this. I know it is risky but we are being killed otherwise." Harry finished just as Madame Hooch reached them.

"Ready to restart Wood?" She asked.

Wood nodded. "Follow Harry's plan, lets go."

On Madame Hooch's whistle Harry kicked off into the air. Almost immediately the bludger was onto him. He ducked almost by instinct and thanked his stars for all the training that he they had done with the extra bludger. The bludger went past him for about ten metres and then started to curve back towards him. Harry looked around the pitch and saw that the Slytherins were just a few feet above him, making a play for goal. Harry shot off towards their formation and the bludger followed right behind him like a loyal dog only a loyal dog out to kill him. He went right into the centre of their formation and shot past them in the opposite direction. The bludger following him disturbed the Slytherin chasers' concentration and they lost possession.

Angelina was quick to the draw and she grabbed the Quaffle and headed towards the Slytherin goal as quick as she could. The Slytherin chasers tried to follow her, but Harry turned around and once again flew into their formation and so did the bludger. The bludger caught-up with Harry and he ducked and the Slytherin chasers were stopped once again. Harry saw Angelina take a shot and score just out of the corner of his eyes. One down twenty-one more to go, he thought to himself as he swerved around and headed towards the Slytherin chasers who were once again headed for a head on collision with him.

It was by far the most arduous and longest game of Quidditch that Harry had ever played. He was trying his level best to break every chaser-play that the Slytherins were coming up with and so far the Slytherin chasers had slipped past him towards the Gryffindor goal only three times and Wood had pulled off inspired saves all three times. Harry had a feeling that the charms on the bludger were starting to weaken a bit as every time Harry ducked under it or swerved off from it's way it kept on going that much bit longer.

Meanwhile, the twins were simply hitting the second bludger between each other and trying to keep as close as possible to Malfoy. So far Harry had spotted Malfoy diving once and the twins had been super quick to hit the bludger towards him and since the match wasn't over, Harry guessed that Malfoy had been unsuccessful. As he ducked under the bludger for the umpteenth time he was rather surprised at the foolishness of the Slytherin beaters who had decided to follow him around and hit a bludger which was already following him, back to him. The only thing that they achieved to do by that was, increase the confusion among the Slytherin chaser formations and give Gryffindor the advantage. To their defence they had gone after the twins but Harry had seen Fred hit a bludger hit the bludger rather hard at one of them and that coupled with the speed of their broom had barely allowed them to duck away. After that they had stayed away from the twins, probably thinking that since they were not going after their chasers they were harmless.

Harry chanced a look at his watch and realized it was a few minutes past three in the afternoon, the match had been going on for over four hours now, no wonder he was feeling tired. The Slytherin chasers meanwhile looked completely spent as they tried to avoid Harry, his bludger and then the bludger hit back by their own beaters. The rain had simply got heavier and visibility had gotten rather poor. But Quidditch matches, even school matches were never called off due to stupid reasons like heavy rains.

It all added to the confusion prevailing on the pitch and among the Slytherin chasers who by now were doing nothing but flying around trying to avoid Harry's bludger and thanks to the rain and the poor visibility Harry had a feeling that it was like avoiding half a dozen bludgers. The Gryffindor chasers, meanwhile were taking full advantage of the situation were now literally scoring at free-will.

Harry heard Lee over the rain declare the score as 220-60 in favour of Gryffindor. Alicia, Angelina and Katie had indeed scored 22 goals. Even if Malfoy caught the snitch now, Gryffindor would win. Harry heard the Gryffindors roar again and realized that they now buffer of twenty points or two goals before Malfoy's catch became meaningful. Even as was thinking the bludger swerved back onto him and Harry barely avoided it as it grazed the very wet sleeves of his robes. Harry turned around and continued on his zigzag route back towards the Slytherin chaser when Harry the Gryffindors roar again. They now had a three-goal buffer. Deciding that the Slytherin chasers were too tired to do anything, Harry got out of their way and climbed into the air and started actively looking for the snitch.

That was easily decided than done. Harry could barely go for about a hundred odd metres in any direction before his bludger caught-up with him and he had to duck and swerve again and again and again. Fred and George noticed that Harry was away from the Slytherin chasers and hence they went after them. A whistling in Harry's ear told him the Bludger had just missed him again; he turned right over and sped in the opposite direction. After a few seconds he heard the whistling again and just as he was about to duck he spotted the golden snitch fluttering about twenty metres above the ground. He hesitated deciding whether to turn around or go after the snitch.

That one moment cost him hear as the bludger came around and slammed right into his left hand. Harry heard a distinct crack and he knew that his left hand was broken. Even as the bludger was coming around for a second attack Harry dived straight for the snitch, with his left hand dangling uselessly by his side.

Harry reached the snitch and took his remaining hand off his broom and made a wild snatch; he felt his fingers close on the cold Snitch but was now only gripping the broom with his legs, and there was a yell from the crowd as he headed straight for the ground, trying hard not to pass out. With a splattering thud he hit the mud and rolled off his broom. His arm was hanging at a very strange angle; riddled with pain, he heard, as though from a distance, a good deal of whistling and shouting. He focused on the Snitch clutched in his good hand.

"Ahaa, we won!" Harry exclaimed and then fainted.

Harry awoke sometime later and saw someone was leaning over him, poking him everywhere with a wand. He groaned aloud and the poking stopped almost immediately. Harry looked at himself and realized that he was in the hospital-pajamas and he also realized that he was in the Hospital wing and Madame Pomfrey was the one leaning over him with a grave look on her face.

"Wh….What happened after I fell?" Harry asked in a croaky voice.

Madame Pomfrey took a deep-breath and Harry felt that she was trying to control her temper. "Lockhart happened." She replied rather gruffly.

"Eh?" Harry asked back intelligently.

"Do you remember breaking you arm?" Madame Pomfrey asked and she continued after Harry nodded. "Well Lockhart decided that he would repair your hand right on the field and instead of mending the bones he removed it completely."

"What?" Harry exclaimed as he turned his head around to take a look at his left arm. Instead of the usual shape of an arm all that was there was an oddly shaped lump of skin and flesh and Harry couldn't feel it at all.

"Don't worry, I can re-grow the bones." Madame Pomfrey said after noticing the look on Harry's face. "Only it will be very painful and you will have to drink SkeleGrow."

Harry nodded. He was used to pain and pain was better than this piece of flesh arm. Then suddenly he remembered something. "Madame Pomfrey?"

"Yes." She replied.

"Are you sure you are not a seer?" Harry asked impishly.

"One more word Harry and I will let Lockhart re-grow the bones." Madame Pomfrey replied curtly. Harry didn't say a word but he certainly couldn't help laughing out aloud. "You're in for a rough night," she said, pouring out a steaming beakerful and handing it to him. "Re-growing bones is a nasty business. So was taking the SkeleGrow. It burned Harry's mouth and throat as it went down, making him cough and splutter. Still tut-tut ting about dangerous sports and inept teachers, Madam Pomfrey retreated to her office.

Just as she closed her office door, the entire Quidditch team, Ron and Hermione trooped in. All of them still in their mud-splattered and very wet Quidditch robes.

"Unbelievable flying, Harry," said George and the same comment was repeated around with different adjectives seven more times. Wood seemed to have a hanger in his mouth. He could hardly stop smiling.

"We won by a full 330-points, Harry." Wood began. "What a game! What a team-effort! What chasing girls! Brilliant beating, boys and Harry hats off to you! We beat Slytherin by one of the biggest margins ever in spite of that blonde's brooms. I can't still believe……" Fred stuffed a chocolate frog in Wood's mouth effectively ending his rambling. Fred and George had got along cakes, sweets, and bottles of pumpkin juice; they gathered around Harry's bed and were just getting started on what promised to be a good party when Madam Pomfrey came storming over, shouting, "This boy needs rest, he's got thirty-three bones to re-grow! Out! OUT!"

And Harry was left alone, with nothing to distract him from the stabbing pains in his limp arm.

Hours and hours later, Harry woke quite suddenly in the pitch blackness and gave a small yelp of pain: His arm now felt full of large splinters. For a second, he thought that was what had woken him. Then, with a thrill of horror, he realized that someone was sponging his forehead in the dark.

"Get off!" he said loudly, and then, "Dobby!"

The house-elf's goggling tennis ball eyes were peering at Harry through the darkness. A single tear was running down his long, pointed nose. "Harry Potter came back to school," he whispered miserably. "Dobby warned and warned Harry Potter. Ah sir, why didn't you heed Dobby? Why didn't Harry Potter go back home when he missed the train?"

Harry tried to think clearly through the haze of pain. Dobby knew that he had missed the train. Dobby was responsible for the sealing and the anti-apparition wards. He tried to sit-up straight on the pillows as he decided what he was going to say to Dobby.

"Dobby, were you responsible for today's bludger too?" Harry asked in an even voice. Dobby nodded and Harry felt his anger spike fueled by the pain in his left arm. "Dobby, get the hell out of here before I get full use of my arms and strangle you."

Dobby's eyes watered-up and blew his nose on a corner of his very filthy pillowcase. "Dobby is not scared of death-threats. Dobby gets them four times a day at home."

Even as he burst into tears, Dobby picked up the sponge and began dabbing Harry's forehead. Harry suddenly found it very difficult to remain or indeed get angrier with Dobby. He really seemed to have his heart in the right place even if his methods were practically bordering on ridiculous. But something didn't seem to add up.

"Dobby, why did you charm the bludger to kill me?" Harry asked.

"Not to kill you, Harry Potter but to grievously injure you so that they would send you home and then you would be safe from……" But Dobby did not complete the sentence. Instead he grabbed the water pitcher by the side and started hitting himself over the head with it.

"Stop it, Dobby." Harry cried out and lifted Dobby with his working hand and threw away the pitcher. "You don't need to punish yourself." Dobby seemed to have calmed down a bit and his eyes were filled up with tears again.

"Dobby, is this got to do with the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry asked keeping a strong hold on Dobby with his good arm. "And only nod or shake your head."

Dobby didn't make any movements for some moments and it looked as if, he was fighting an internal battle of sorts. Then he slowly and purposefully nodded.

Harry was quiet for a few moments. "So Slytherin really did build a secret chamber and there is some monster in it which will be used to kill muggleborns? Only nod or shake your head."

Dobby nodded, slowly and purposefully again. "Okay Dobby, listen to me. Stop trying to save me. I can take care of myself. I will and cannot run out of here. One of my best friends is a muggleborn; I can't simply desert her and run away. That is what Salazar Slytherin would have wanted. I will stay right here and if the opportunity arises try my level-best to fight whatever that is there, okay?" Harry said.

Dobby simply stared at Harry for a few minutes. "Harry Potter risks his own life for his friends!" moaned Dobby in a kind of miserable ecstasy. "So noble! So valiant! But he must save himself, he must, Harry Potter must not -"

Dobby suddenly froze, his bat ears quivering. Harry heard it, too.

There were footsteps coming down the passageway outside. "Dobby must go!" breathed the elf, terrified. There was a loud crack, and Harry's fist was suddenly clenched on thin air. He slumped back into bed, his eyes on the dark doorway to the hospital wing as the footsteps drew nearer.

Next moment, Dumbledore was backing into the dormitory, wearing a long woolly dressing gown and a nightcap. He was carrying one end of what looked like a statue. Professor McGonagall appeared a second later, carrying its feet. Together, they heaved it onto a bed.

"Get Madam Pomfrey," whispered Dumbledore, and Professor McGonagall hurried past the end of Harry's bed out of sight. Harry lay quite still, pretending to be asleep. He heard urgent voices, and then Professor McGonagall swept back into view, closely followed by Madam Pomfrey, who was pulling a cardigan on over her nightdress. He heard a sharp intake of breath.

"What happened?" Madam Pomfrey whispered to Dumbledore, bending over the statue on the bed.

"Another attack," said Dumbledore. "Minerva found him on the stairs."

"There was a bunch of grapes next to him," said Professor McGonagall. "We think he was trying to sneak up here to visit Potter." Harry's stomach gave a horrible lurch. Slowly and carefully, he raised himself a few inches so he could look at the statue on the bed. A ray of moonlight lay across its staring face.

It was Colin Creevy. His eyes were wide and his hands were stuck up in front of him, holding his camera.

"Petrified?" whispered Madam Pomfrey.

"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "But I shudder to think ... If Albus hadn't been on the way downstairs for hot chocolate - who knows what might have -"

The three of them stared down at Colin. Then Dumbledore leaned forward and wrenched the camera out of Colin's rigid grip.

"You don't think he managed to get a picture of his attacker?" said

Professor McGonagall eagerly.

Dumbledore didn't answer. He opened the back of the camera.

"Good gracious!" said Madam Pomfrey.

A jet of steam had hissed out of the camera. Harry, three beds away, caught the acrid smell of burnt plastic.

"Melted," said Madam Pomfrey wonderingly. "All melted..."

"What does this mean, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked urgently.

"It means," said Dumbledore, "that the Chamber of Secrets is indeed open again." Madam Pomfrey clapped a hand to her mouth. Professor McGonagall stared at Dumbledore.

"But, Albus ... surely ... who?"

"The question is not who," said Dumbledore, his eyes on Colin.

"The question is, how . . . ."

And from what Harry could see of Professor McGonagall's shadowy face, she didn't understand this any better than he did.


	14. Parseltongue and Suspicions

Harry woke up the next morning to bright sunshine and an arm with all the bones in it. Madame Pomfrey had a small breakfast lined-up for him and then after a cursory check-up discharged him. As he left the Hospital Wing he saw that screens had been drawn across Colin's bed which prevented anyone from noticing him. Harry strapped on his wrist-watch and then cursed. His new wrist-watch was completely destroyed. It seemed that the bludger had actually hit the watch, effectively smashing it. Harry made his way to the common-room where his entry was greeted by a loud cheer by the Gryffindors. It was a bit of a subdued cheer though and Harry guessed that Colin's news had indeed spread out among the students. He reached his dorm to find a note from Ron, asking him to meet Ron and Hermione in the library. Harry grabbed his bag and then set off towards the library.

As he was walking through the corridors, he realized that a lot of students seemed to be giving him a wide berth. He groaned loudly, it seemed that the fact that he was in the Hospital Wing, re-growing bones at the time Colin was attacked hadn't diminished other students' belief about him being the Slytherin Heir. He reached the library to find Ron and Hermione buried behind mountains of books. Hermione was reading page after page with furious concentration and Ron was dawdling through the page.

"You guys got some homework assignment that I don't know of?" Harry asked as he sat down across the two.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed without looking up from her book. "You are up."

"And you can look at me. The bludger broke my arm, not my face." Harry replied as Ron started laughing.

"Ha-ha. Very funny, anyways it is your eyes that girls like not your face." Hermione replied. "And we…………"

"Whoa! Hold it, girls what?" Harry asked quite surprised. He had always thought that being infatuated rather being in love with Ginny since aged 11 years was highly irregular and bordering on perhaps pervert. It had always sort of held him back if you might. He really needed to talk to someone about it. But whom?

"Well girls like your eyes more than anything." Hermione replied back in a manner as if talking about the weather. Seeing Harry's confused looks. "Never mind that Harry, we will talk about that later. But what are we going to do about the Chamber of Secrets and Malfoy?"

Harry looked at Hermione; he had never seen her so pumped up or rather determined about anything, except finishing homework on time that is. "Well Dobby came to visit me last night." Harry began and related the night's events to both Ron and Harry.

"Well, if he doesn't stop trying to save your life, he is going to end-up killing you." Ron said.

"We have to do something Harry, this heir could be well on his way to kill me next. I am a muggleborn." Hermione exclaimed.

Harry didn't reply immediately. He knew that his reply would mean a lot to Hermione and he needed to handle it very carefully. "Hermione, even if there is very little that we can do about the heir whoever it is, what we can do is try and look around the castle looking around for clues that might have been left around by the heir. Or indeed clues to where the chamber might be perhaps."

"But what about Malfoy?" Ron asked. It seemed that he too was bent on believing that Malfoy was the heir.

"I am telling you Ron, Malfoy can't be the heir. If I were the heir I would want to look as neutral as possible to the outside world. Not be known and seen as a muggleborn-hater. If Malfoy was indeed this heir, he wouldn't be strutting around as a Slytherin prince. There is very little chance that we might actually find this the heir. I am sure that Professor Dumbledore has been looking for him;" Harry paused for a moment. "Or indeed her and he hasn't found the heir yet, we stand very little chance. However we have a fair chance of finding the heir with the map and indeed the help of the ghosts."

"You do realize that we haven't asked Peeves about the chamber yet." Ron interjected.

"Yeah, we need to do that soon, very soon. So Hermione can we go along this lines for now?" Harry completed.

Hermione did not reply immediately. "We could use a truth potion on Malfoy."

"You do know that in all probability that is illegal and immoral?" Harry asked her and Hermione hung her head.

"It's just so frustrating. I mean we have as equal a chance as purebloods to be wizards and witches. And……." Hermione began but was stopped by Ron.

"We know that Hermione and we agree completely. Please cool down." Ron said and Hermione did stop her rant but she still looked rather agitated.

The trio spent the rest of the day in the common-room reading up new charms, which is Hermione spent the time looking up new charms while Harry and Ron spent the time trying them out. The one charm which Ron and even Harry liked the most was the summoning charm. The idea of simply 'accioing' things while sitting down instead of getting up and getting them, appealed a lot to Ron. While Harry simply wanted to get it right as he was having a lot of trouble with it. It was the first charm that was actually troubling him.

Hermione always hated these reading ahead on charms and spells sessions as Harry seemed to take to them rather easily, while she would find it rather tough. Harry had a theory that Hermione found them tough as she had a mental block about them. A block which said that a Professor hadn't taught them yet so they shouldn't be able to perform it. Hermione of course refused to believe that. Ron was always rather cool about learning new spells. He learnt to perform them only if that particular spell interested him. But after Harry managed to perform any spell, Ron used to always mysteriously develop a sudden interest in that spell and learn it.

Harry had sought out Peeves and asked him about the Chamber of Secrets, but Peeves knew nothing about it. He assured 'Rusty' and 'Scarhead' that none of the old ghosts knew anything about it either. Harry had sort of expected Peeves or the ghosts not to know anything about it otherwise Professor Dumbledore would have found out about the Chamber from the ghosts. But what really surprised him was the fact that, Professor Dumbledore hadn't infact asked the ghosts about it but he didn't dwell over it as it wouldn't have mattered anyways.

On Wednesday Harry, with Hagrid's help had carved out a plaque. He took that plaque and placed it over the infirmary doors with Peeves' help. It read: **Madame Pomfrey—Resident Seer, Hogwarts**. Needless to say, Madame Pomfrey wasn't impressed.

"The next time you need medical attention Potter, I am not going to give you any. You will have to find a phoenix for that." Madame Pomfrey lashed out at Harry during breakfast in front of an about half-full Great Hall.

"Phoenix, Mam? I don't understand." Harry replied genuinely confused.

"Phoenix tears can cure most diseases and also heal all kinds of wounds. However Phoenixes don't give their tears that is they don't cry for anyone." Hermione supplied without looking up from her History book.

"Oh. You are on, Mam." Harry said and Madame Pomfrey stalked away muttering about mad Potters.

The one person who was really fuming over Madame Pomfrey being named as the resident seer was Professor Sybil Trelawney. Professor Trelawney was the Divination professor in the school and she was absolutely livid that Harry had the temerity to actually call someone else, a healer none the less with absolutely no training in Divination a 'seer'. After hearing about the plaque from a faithful student of hers she had actually come down from her isolated tower to dinner on Friday to confront Harry about the plaque.

"Mr. Potter, how dare you insult me?"

Harry looked-up from his dinner and his immediate impression was that of a large, glittering insect. Harry focused properly on her and saw that she was very thin; her large glasses magnified her eyes to several times their natural size, and she was draped in a gauzy spangled shawl. Innumerable chains and beads hung around her spindly neck, and her arms and hands were encrusted with bangles and rings.

"Insult you Mam?" Harry asked genuinely confused. He had never heard of her, leave alone met her. "I don't even know who you are."

She looked stumped for a moment but continued on unfazed. "I am Sybil Trelawney, the divination professor and hence by right the resident seer in Hogwarts. How dare you call some healer a resident seer when I am right here?"

Harry looked around and realized that a lot of older girls were looking up at him with a great interest. He groaned, he always seemed to have a way of upsetting the girls in Hogwarts. At least Ginny seemed to be eating breakfast with minimum attention on his exchange.

"Well Mam, Madame Pomfrey has predicted two or three things correctly so far. So I simply called her the 'resident-seer' in appreciation of that." Harry replied evenly.

"But I am the seer in the school." Sybil Trelawney replied with almost desperation. "I want a plaque too."

"Err; I don't have another plaque Mam." Harry said the first thing that came to his mind.

Trelawney looked offended by that and looked angry. "The GRIM hangs over you, Harry Potter. Death follows you everywhere that you go. Death will catch you because the Grim hangs over you."

Harry had absolutely no idea what Trelawney had said. The only thing that he understood was that death followed him everywhere, which was completely true and he certainly didn't need anyone to tell him that. The Grim he guessed must be some kind of omen of death as she had used it in conjecture with death hanging over him. He didn't think that her words mattered anything. "Ok, Mam. Thanks for the….err….warning." Harry replied the only thing that made sense.

Trelawney sniffed and then turned around and left the Great Hall. Harry sat down to complete his meal, but realized that almost the entire student body was staring at him. "What is wrong?" He asked Ron.

"The Grim hangs over you, Harry. It means that you will die soon." Ron replied very softly.

"Yeah sure." Harry replied dismissively. "And the Chudley Cannons will win the league."

"No Harry you don't understand, the Grim scares the shit out of most people. My uncle…….." Ron began but was interrupted by Harry.

"We are not having this discussion Ron. C'mon you are believing a lady, a professor who came down from god knows where to demand that she be given a seer-plaque too." Ron thought over it for a moment and then smiled and then returned to his dinner.

"So I guess, you will not be opting for divination next year?" Hermione asked.

"Not unless, Madame Pomfrey agrees to teach us." Harry replied without missing a beat and half of the Gryffindor Table began laughing which made Harry realize that no conversation in the Great Hall was ever private.

As the week drew to a close the paranoia in the castle had reached fever pitch. A lot of non-Gryffindor students were avoiding Harry literally like the plague now. Percy was keeping out a look on Harry like a Hawk. Everytime Harry left the common-room after dinnertime but before curfew Percy set out to follow him, at least he tried to follow Harry like some detective but everytime Harry realized that Percy was following him, Harry would increase his speed, turn around a corridor and go through the nearest secret-passageway effectively throwing Percy off his tracks. Harry had gotten angry at first but gradually he found it rather funny to throw Percy off his trail and then watch a frustrated and tired Percy return to the common-room only to find Harry calmly sitting on a table and studying.

About a week later Harry came down to the common-room to find a large crowd in front of the notice board. Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas beckoned them over, looking excited.

"They're starting a Dueling Club!" said Seamus. "First meeting tonight! I wouldn't mind dueling lessons; they might come in handy one of these days."

"What, you reckon Slytherin's monster can duel?" said Ron, but he, too, read the sign with interest.

"Could be useful," he said to Harry and Hermione as they went into dinner. "Shall we go?"

Harry and Hermione were all for it, so at eight o'clock that evening they hurried back to the Great Hall. The long dining tables had vanished and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands and looking excited.

"Whom do you think will be conducting the club?" Ron asked.

"As long as it isn't Lockhart anyone…….." No sooner had Harry uttered the word 'Lockhart', most of the students burst into applause as unbelievably Lockhart climbed onto the stage followed by none other than Snape.

"Oh, we are going to learn so much from him." Began Hermione excitedly. "He must be so good at dueling……" She was interrupted by Lockhart flashing his smile and beginning to talk.

"Well, well welcome to the first session of our dueling club. The headmaster has kindly given me permission to start one in view of the recent developments in the castle and Professor Snape has agreed to be my assistant."

Lockhart paused for a moment as some as some students started clapping again. Harry looked at Snape who looked murderous and probably for the first time Harry was glad that Snape was involved in it. Harry was damn sure that Snape was going to murder Lockhart.

"He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry - you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!" Lockhart announced and Snape's bottom lip curled.

"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Ron muttered in Harry's ear making him laugh.

Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed; at least, Lockhart did, with much twirling of his hands, whereas Snape jerked his head irritably. Then they raised their wands like swords in front of them.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Harry murmured, watching Snape baring his teeth.

"One - two - three -"

Both of them swung their wands above their heads and pointed them at their opponent; Snape cried: "Expelliarmus!" There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet: He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor. Malfoy and some of the other Slytherins cheered.

Hermione was dancing on tiptoes. "Do you think he's all right?" she squealed through her fingers.

"Who cares?" said Harry and Ron together.

Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end. "Well, there you have it!" he said, tottering back onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm - as you see, I've lost my wand - ah, thank you, Miss Brown - yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy - however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see . . ."

Snape was looking murderous. Possibly Lockhart had noticed, because he said, "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me -"

Lockhart and Snape began pairing off students. Harry and Ron by silent mutual agreement came together, but Snape had different ideas for them.

"Time to break the dream team I think." Snape began with a smirk. "Weasley you can partner McMillan and Potter, I think you can partner Malfoy. Let's see how you really do."

Harry groaned, not because he was afraid of Malfoy but because he knew that Malfoy wouldn't play fair and with Snape around he would get away with it. He stepped onto the stage with the others and Malfoy faced him after a moment.

"Scared Potter?" Malfoy smirked out. Harry decided not to reply at all.

"All-right ladies and gentlemen. Only practice the disarming charm please. Nothing else." Lockhart said. "Begin on my count, One……Two……Thr……."

As Harry had expected, Malfoy belted out "Expelliarmus" well before Lockhart had finished off three. But Harry was ready for it and he jumped out of the way in the nick of time. He turned around and shot a tickling charm at Malfoy which caught him right on the abdomen and Malfoy began laughing out loudly. Suddenly between the laughs Malfoy managed to fire the 'leg-locker' curse at Harry which he deftly stepped around but lost his balance as Neville came out of no-where and crashed into him.

For a few moments Harry was confused and in this time Malfoy had stopped laughing and was back on his legs. Harry saw Malfoy get up but he was still on the ground. Malfoy smirked and then shot a curse which Harry had never seen, but he instinctively knew that he better avoid it and hence tried to roll away from it. He didn't manage it completely and the curse caught him just on the leg and it cut through his robes but didn't do any damage to the skin. Harry realized that Malfoy was getting a bit too serious. Harry did the first thing that came to his mind. He aimed his wand at Malfoy and cried out "Wingardium Leviosa."

Malfoy looked surprised for a moment and then suddenly, he started rising up in the air. As he climbed up almost 6-7metres into the air he started screaming and that got the attention of the entire Great Hall.

"Everybody STOP!" It was Snape. Everyone except Harry stopped dueling. Harry had a feeling that he couldn't simply stop putting fire into the spell. "Potter, slowly lower Malfoy down. Don't do it too quickly or Malfoy will fall."

Harry didn't want to do it but lowered him slowly anyways. About three feet above the ground he couldn't resist it and simply dropped him onto the ground. Malfoy screamed for barely a moment before he realized that he was on the ground. He got-up and walked away with his cheeks flushed red and the majority of the Great Hall laughing away.

"How did you do that?" It was Snape who had asked Harry in a surprisingly civil tone.

"Do what?" Harry asked confusedly. He looked at Ron and Hermione who were laughing and looking impressed respectively.

"Get off the stage Potter." Snape had gotten back to his usual tone. Harry shrugged and got down near Ron and Hermione.

"What happened? Why in the world did Snape look so impressed?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Don't you ever read the theory behind a charm?" She questioned by means of an answer but continued on without waiting for Harry's reply. "The levitation charm cannot be used with living beings. The power that is magic needed to lift a living being so high is not generated by that spell. 'Mobilicorpus' is used for lifting people, but that too only a few feet into the air not metres into the air."

"Oh." Harry replied as he only half-heartedly watched Lockhart demonstrate how to block the Expelliarmus, though he ended up only dropping the wand. Harry had a feeling that the manner in which he had felt 'magic' or indeed 'power' flow from his body into the spell had allowed him to levitate Malfoy. His reverie was broken by Lockhart in front of his face.

"C'mon up Harry. Let's see you block the disarming charm." Lockhart said jovially and practically dragged Harry onto the stage. Out of the corner of his eyes Harry saw Snape gesture Malfoy onto the stage.

"Now, Harry," said Lockhart. "When Draco points his wand at you, you do this." He raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling action, and dropped it. Snape smirked as Lockhart quickly picked it up, saying, "Whoops -my wand is a little overexcited -"

Snape moved closer to Malfoy, bent down, and whispered something in his ear. Malfoy smirked, too. Harry couldn't believe it. Lockhart had actually dropped his wand as a way of blocking a spell and Hermione practically worshipped him. Harry was sure that Snape had come up with some kind of unblockable spell or something judging by the smirk on Malfoy's face. Harry had a feeling that Malfoy desperately wanted to get back at him for levitating him. Harry tried to remember a blocking spell, but he couldn't remember how to parry a spell or how to conjure up a shield. Deciding that jumping out of the way would be his best bet Harry stepped in front of Malfoy.

Lockhart began the countdown. "One—Two—Three—Go!"

Malfoy raised his wand and bellowed out. "Serpensortia!"

The end of his wand exploded. Harry watched, aghast, as a long black snake shot out of it, fell heavily onto the floor between them, and raised itself, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.

"Don't move, Potter," said Snape lazily, clearly enjoying the sight of Harry standing motionless, eye to eye with the angry snake. "I'll get rid of it ...

"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart. He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang; the snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack. Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Finch Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike.

Suddenly Harry realized that he could actually talk to snakes as he remembered the Boa Constrictor incident. He rushed forward and screamed out, "_Stop_." The snake froze immediately and stopped mid-strike. "_Come here and don't bite anybody_." Harry ordered the snake.

The snake hesitated for a moment and then turned around. _"You are a speaker. Our kind is bound to obey you." _The snake said and started sliding towards the stage.

Harry jumped down from the stage and bent down and collected the snake in his arms. The snake coiled around his arms. "_Don't bite me either_." Surprisingly the snake bobbed his up and down. Harry heaved a sigh of relief and looked up for the first time since Malfoy had conjured up the snake. The first person he saw was Justin, who was white as a sheet and looked angry at the same time.

"Wh….What are you playing at Potter?" Justin demanded and then stormed out of the Great Hall. Harry looked around the Hall and realized that everyone was looking at him with cold, livid and almost murderous looks. Harry couldn't imagine where those looks came from. There was an angry buzz around the Great Hall and it was all directed towards Harry and he couldn't wonder why.

Harry turned around and looked at Snape who had a cold, shrewd and calculating look on his face a look that Harry couldn't quite place. Snape stepped forward, waved his wand, and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke.

"Whoa, why did you get rid of the snake Sir?" Harry asked a bit irritably.

Snape looked at Harry as if he had grown an extra-head. "It is one of the most poisonous snaked in the world Potter."

"I had told it not to bite anybody, or did you not listen, Sir?" Harry asked his irritation increasing as he was sure that Snape had asked Malfoy to conjure it up in the first place.

Snape didn't reply to that and instead gave another long look towards Harry and then swept out of the Great Hall. Harry looked around and realized that the mutterings in the Hall were becoming louder and louder and he also noticed Ron and Hermione walking towards him. Ron was the first one to reach him.

"Let's get out of here mate before it becomes a total mad-house." Ron said and started moving towards the exit. Harry realized that the moment anyone spotted him they gave him a wide berth. He had a feeling that the talking with the snake wasn't going to make him particularly popular.

"What is happening?" A very confused Harry asked Ron and Hermione.

The two exchanged a look before Hermione replied. "You are a parselmouth, Harry." Seeing Harry's confused looks Hermione explained further. "You can talk to snakes. Parseltongue is the snake language if you might."

"Yes, I know that I can speak to snakes. So what? I just saved Justin's life." Harry replied agitatedly.

"So that is what you were saying." Ron remarked. Seeing the puzzled looks on Harry's face, Ron continued. "It only sounded as 'hissing' to us."

As Harry thought over it, he remembered what Piers had said after the zoo incident. 'Potter was hissing to the snake, weren't you?' Guessing from everyone's reaction in the Great Hall, being a parselmouth seemed to rather bad quality.

"Why exactly is being a parselmouth such a big deal?" Harry asked.

"I can't believe you haven't read about it Harry. Salazar Slytherin was a parselmouth and now everyone is going to……." Hermione began.

"….be convinced that, I am the heir of Slytherin." Harry finished glumly. The rest of the journey to the tower was spent in complete silence.

Harry hardly slept that night. Could he really be the heir of Slytherin? Even if he was, Harry was sure that he wasn't setting that monster onto people. It was ridiculous, why in the world would he want to kill muggleborns, he most certainly wasn't prejudiced and certainly not evil. He couldn't imagine himself killing anyone; it was a wonder how anyone could even think that he was responsible for the petrifications. To top it off he was trying to save Justin from getting bitten by the snake. Justin wouldn't have been in that position if it hadn't been for the stupid spell from Lockhart and Harry was sure that the snake wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been for Snape's advise to Malfoy. Harry finally fell into an uneasy sleep only a few hours before dawn.

Harry woke up the next day deciding to sort out matters with Justin in Herbology. But by the next morning snowfall had turned into a heavy blizzard which meant that the Herbology lesson was cancelled. The trio was sitting in the common-room finishing their transfiguration homework when the twins came by.

"Little Harrikins, we come in peace….." They began but stopped after noticing the look on Harry's face. "You are going to have a hard time mate. Just heard some Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff seventh years discussing you in the library. The stories have gotten huge mate. They are talking about you being you-know-who's incarnation et all. It seems that you used Dark Magic to get rid of You-know-Who. Even your flying skills are now being attributed to dark magic. You enchanting the pixies is dark magic now."

Harry couldn't take it anymore. "I am going for a ride on my broom. Anyone interested?"

Fred, George, Ron and Hermione all stared at him. Hermione spoke up after a moment. "There is a blizzard out there and the temperature is sub-zero Harry. You will….."

"Yeah well I am the heir of Slytherin and an expert in Dark Magic; maybe I will get rid of the snow too." Harry screamed out and stormed towards his dorm.

The three Weasleys and Hermione only stared after him. "Maybe one of you should go out with him." Hermione suggested half-heartedly.

"Yeah right, on a broom in this weather and take-off from the window. None of us is Harry." The twins replied.

Meanwhile Harry collected his broom and got into his Quidditch robes. A minute later he was in the air and right in the middle of the blizzard. But he hardly noticed the blizzard, the cold and the high winds as he took off at top speed towards the Quidditch pitch. The winds were continuously blowing him off-course but he managed to somehow get back on course within a few seconds almost subconsciously. As he started going into one dive after another he couldn't help but imagine about what probably most of the students were thinking about him in the school.

Used dark magic to get rid of Voldemort, honestly. Dark magic at the age of 1 that must have been something. For a wild moment Harry wondered if he should announce to the school that Voldemort was actually among them for an entire year and he is not dead, he is without form, but he isn't a ghost. Being good at flying was suddenly dark magic. At the back of his mind, Harry knew that it was ridiculous on certain levels rather every level and sometime later he might actually laugh over it but right now it was pissing him off like hell. Harry couldn't believe that people would actually believe that. A few months ago he was a hero for vanquishing Voldemort and now, he was the re-incarnation of Voldemort himself.

Harry wondered who all really believed this. He sincerely hoped that Ginny hadn't or he would find it impossible to know her better. Thinking about Ginny made his heart grow constrict in the rib-cage. The end of the term was almost unto them and Harry had made no progress at all. It wasn't as if he hadn't tried. But everytime Harry sat down next to or anywhere Ginny, she would practically run away from there, after toppling a few objects that is. Eventually Harry had taken to observing her cute-freckled face from some distance. If nothing he could at least enjoy a few moments of bliss as he took in her face. Harry had a feeling that life at Hogwarts wasn't really agreeing with her. She always seemed to be tired and forlorn. Colin was one of the very few people that Harry had ever seen her with and that probably explained her dejection.

Harry let out practically a roar of frustration. This year was supposed to be straight-forward. Voldemort wasn't around and Harry was supposed to get to know Ginny better, play Quidditch, and jaunt around the castle with Ron and Peeves, try and make Snape go mad, and somehow try and make Lockhart leave. These were his objectives at the start of the year but somewhere along the line in three months they had all fallen apart. Ginny still went beet-red around him and fled the scene and his heart never stopped beating madly around Ginny. Quidditch was going all-right except for a mad bludger which broke his hand. Snape had still managed to remain sane inspite of not being able to fail Harry even once. Lockhart pranced around the castle like Professor Dumbledore was his protégé.

Tired of having to adjust his course each time as he dived due to the high winds, Harry stopped diving and flew into the blizzard. It was then that Harry realized that it was damn cold and rather windy. The snow was rushing past his face and he could barely see. The water-repelling charm certainly didn't repel snow as effectively as it did the water. He flew over the stands and noticed the lake out of the corner of his eyes. Surprisingly the lake's surface wasn't frozen yet. Harry flew over the lake and observed the surface of the lake. Suddenly he had an absolutely mad idea.

He flew over the lake once more as he contemplated his action. He removed his glasses and put them into a pocket and hoped that he wouldn't lose them. He flew another loop around the lake and climbed-up into the air gradually. He was finally starting to feel the cold and the wind. Finishing that loop he started diving straight for the middle of lake. He gained speed as he approached the surface and instead of pulling out of the dive as he would have done he went straight into the water.

The water might not have been frozen but it certainly was freezing cold. Harry could barely keep his eyes open. But he had to check out a few things. He was now completely immersed in water and was still going down. He tried to move the shaft to the left and miraculously the broom moved to the left too. He tried to level out the broom and amazingly the broom leveled out and started moving in a horizontal direction. Harry was rather ecstatic; brooms did indeed fly or work in water. Happy that his little experiment had worked out and cold as hell Harry jerked his broom upwards. He managed it with some difficulty but the broom did start moving up towards the surface. He tried to negotiate that much more speed from the broom as he neared the surface and then shot out of the water at the fastest speed that his Nimbus 2000 could manage.

Just as Harry broke through the surface of the water, two loud sighs of relief could have been heard over the blizzard just on the edge of the lake. The third person didn't give out a sigh of relief but a sound of disappointment that clearly said he would have rather preferred Harry to be entombed in the icy waters of the lake. The two sighs of relief belonged to Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore while the sound of disappointment obviously belonged to Snape. The three watched as Harry broke out of the surface of the water and then headed back towards the castle.

"Well, it seems that it would be prudent if we returned back to the castle." Professor Dumbledore screamed out over the sound of the blizzard. Professor McGonagall nodded and Snape had already started walking back towards the castle in a huff.

Meanwhile Harry had landed back into the Gryffindor tower and made his way back to his dorm. The dorm was empty and he realized that he had been out in the blizzard for well over two hours. Just as he was about to change out of his Quidditch robes, Percy stormed into the dorm.

"Mr. Potter, where the hell have you been?" Percy asked clearly short on breath.

Harry only raised his eyebrows as he tried to unfasten the buttons on his robes. The robes seemed to have frozen up. He tried again but to no use. Percy meanwhile seemed to have lost his patience.

"I asked, where the hell have you been, Potter?" Percy asked again as he drew out his wand.

Harry became irritated again. The exhilaration over the flight and the underwater ride simply seemed to have washed off. "I was off to the chambers. Percy having a cup of tea with my hairy monster. Do you have a problem with that?" Harry replied as he drew out his wand to too.

Percy was quite surprised and almost fired a spell. But Harry pointed his wand towards himself and said 'calefacio'. He clearly hadn't performed the spell correctly as within a few moments he began sweating like hell but at least he wasn't cold anymore. Percy meanwhile regained his power of speech after Harry's cup of tea declaration.

"Mr. Potter you are expected to be in Professor Dumbledore's office. The prefects and the professors have been searching for you." Percy said, his old pompous voice was back.

"Why, exactly?" Harry stopped removing his Quidditch robes.

"There has been another attack, attacks and you were missing again, Mr. Potter. The Headmaster's office please." Percy ordered Harry.

Harry groaned as he grabbed his wand from his bed again and stalked out of the dorm doors and towards the common-room. He entered the common-room to see everyone facing the portrait-hole with anticipation written large on their faces. Groaning loudly, Harry made his way towards the portal and people began literally jumping out of his way. Harry saw Ron and Hermione trying to make their way towards him but he wasn't in a mood for discussing anything so he slammed the portrait-hole behind him. This also had the advantage of slowing down Percy as he certainly didn't want Percy's company all the way to Professor Dumbledore's office.

Harry practically ran down the corridor and towards the centaur. Two seconds later Harry was on the spiral staircase shutting the stone panel behind him. Harry actually climbed down a level and then crossed over to the other wing before making it to the seventh floor office of Professor Dumbledore. He came to standstill before the stone gargoyles and he realized that leaving behind Percy might not have been such a great idea after-all. He tried to remember what Professor McGonagall had said before entering the office at the start of the year. After a few moments he finally remembered, "Lemon Drops' he said out aloud and amazingly the gargoyles jumped open. Harry stepped onto the escalator and reached the polished wooden doors and knocked on it. But no-one answered. Guessing that no-one was inside the office Harry opened the door and stepped into it.

The office looked as grand and as imposing as it had on the first occasion. Only this time Harry had an opportunity to look around. The wizards and witches in the portraits were all sleeping. Harry had a feeling that it was nothing but an act and they were all probably spying on him for Professor Dumbledore in the sly. Harry spotted the Sorting Hat and not for the first time wondered about his sorting. On an impulse Harry reached out, grabbed the hat and pulled it on.

It was silent for a few moments under the Hat and then Harry heard the voice that he had heard almost a year and a half ago. _"Ah, Mr. Potter I certainly wasn't expecting you today. How can I help you today?"_

"_Well I guess you do know what I am going to ask."_

"_That I certainly do Mr. Potter but as I told you an year ago, I prefer to be polite from time to time. Now onto your current dilemma. You Mr. Potter are overlooking something from our conversation. I had said that all the four houses would fit you like second skin……"_

"_But you had said that Slytherin would lead me onto path of greatness or something."_

"_That I had and I still stand by it."_

"_Then I should be in Slytherin, not in Gryffindor." Harry said dejectedly._

"_But if I remember correctly Mr. Potter you said that you didn't want anymore greatness."_

"_So?"_

"_That's make a lot of difference. Some people are born great. Some people are made out to be great by people. Some people have greatness thrust onto them at a very young. Some people become great by their own actions. Some people encourage others around them onto a path of greatness. Can you guess to which category you belong, Mr. Potter?"_

"_Err; I am the one who has been made out to be great by people."_

"_No Mr. Potter, you belong to every single category that I just mentioned. Think about it. The house to which you belong is hardly significant. I am not Merlin; I am simply a thinking cap with years and years of experience."_

Harry was silent for a moment and suddenly he realized something and before he could ask the hat answered.

"_Yes, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened once before. Exactly fifty years ago and a girl was killed at that time. Don't ask me anything more, Albus wouldn't like me telling you anything else."_

"_Err; thanks. Thanks for the information and the advice too. I will remember that for sure."_

"_I know that you will, Mr. Potter."_

Harry removed the hat and placed it back onto the stool. Harry looked around the office and wondered where in the world had Professor Dumbledore had disappeared. He looked at the books' cabinet and saw titles that made his head whirl. Wondering whether any of the books would hold any information about magical maps, Harry started flicking through some books. But soon he realized that even if they did hold any information there was no way that he would understand anything. He put the books away and started looking through the cabinets. There were some odd-shaped instruments on the shelves and even a round bowl on a shelf. The last cabinet was which surprised Harry the most. There was an old, very old broom in the vertical cabinet. It looked like an Oakshaft but clearly wasn't an Oakshaft as it was much slimmer than the Oakshaft. Clearly Professor Dumbledore played Quidditch at some point in his life too.

"Yes Harry, I was a Quidditch player of moderate capabilities in my times. Though I certainly couldn't be compared to the skill that you show." Harry jerked away from the cabinet so quickly that he was sure that his neck had cracked. He looked near the door and realized that Professor Dumbledore had returned to his office and with him were Professor McGonagall and Snape of all the persons. Harry looked at the professors and realized that they were all looking a bit irritated and Snape looked mad with anger.

"Take a seat Harry." Professor Dumbledore said as the Professors sat around a coffee table and Snape poured three glasses of Firewhisky Harry guessed from the label. Harry moved slowly, wondering where exactly this 'session' was going to head to and sat down on a chair at one side of the table. As he sat there he had a feeling of being cornered but he ignored that and sat down comfortably.

"Would you like some coffee or tea perhaps Harry?" Professor Dumbledore asked. Harry noticed that Snape looked ready to burst and Harry suppresses a smile.

"No, thank-you Sir, I am good." Harry replied and no sooner had he finished the sentence Snape jumped in.

"Why are you in your Quidditch robes 'again' Potter?" Snape asked. Harry had a feeling that he wanted to ask much more with that question.

"Well my big hairy monster likes the Quidditch robes; that is why I was wearing them 'again'." Harry replied a bit scornfully but he was tired of people looking at him suspiciously.

"Ten points from Gryffindor Potter." Snape spat out.

"Thank You professor, I believe that is exactly my intention as the Slytherin heir to make sure that Gryffindor loses the House Cup." Harry replied without missing a beat.

"Mr. Potter that is quite enough." It was Professor McGonagall and Harry knew that it was time to back down. "What do you have to say for yourself? We did see your dive into the lake, would you please explain that to us?"

"Err…..how could you see me, I was…..I mean there is a blizzard out there?" Harry replied with a question.

"After Mr. Flinch-Fletchley and Nearly Headless Nick were found petrified we went about searching for you and Miss Grange kindly informed us that you had developed suicidal tendencies and jumped out of the window during a blizzard and had gone flying. So with great difficult the three of us made our way to the Quidditch pitch only to witness you going into one dive after another. People have been killed while simply flying during blizzards Harry and you were practicing precision diving. However before we could stop you, you flew over to the lake and then missed your dive and went underwater and then somehow managed to come back up. Would you kindly explain your actions to us?" Professor McGonagall finished and then gulped down her remaining drink.

"Err….I didn't miss my dive over the lake, Mam." Harry replied. At the raised eyebrows around the table Harry elucidated further. "Well, I wanted to see whether brooms can be flown underwater just the way they can be flown in the air. So I purposely dived into the water under my own power and amazingly the broom flies rather glides around in the water almost as same as it does in the air but you need a lot more power to change directions and all, also the speed is quite reduced due to the drag of the water but I couldn't guess how less the speed was as I had nothing to compare with and I had also removed my glasses before going in."

Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were silent but Snape jumped in. "You expect us to believe that, Potter? Whom do you take us for? Idiots?"

"I never miss dives Sir. Your own Chasers and beaters will attest to that." Harry replied evenly and Snape could only gnash his teeth in frustration. Harry chanced a look at Professor McGonagall and he knew that she was probably going to cut off his limbs and then leave him in the forests for some animals to eat while being alive.

"There are foolish things to do Mr. Potter, then there are crazy things to do and then there are nonsensically preposterous things to do. Any idea under which section your actions would fall?" Professor McGonagall asked and stopped. Harry had a feeling that the drink was responsible for the short speech.

"I wasn't thinking straight Mam; I should have thought what would have happened if the broom didn't actually fly…err….glide in the water." Harry replied.

"And pray, what would have you done were you thinking straight Potter?" Snape couldn't simply sit quiet.

"Well for one I wouldn't have done it in a blizzard. I would have had someone with a boat or something nearby or someone with an excellent summoning charm………" Harry began but stopped after noticing the look on Professor McGonagall's face.

"100 points from Gryffindor and a week-long detention and that means 7-days not five." Professor McGonagall announced and Snape looked like Christmas had come early.

"Err….mam about those detentions can I not have them with Lockhart?" Harry asked and continued on noticing the raised eyebrows. "He makes me reply to all his fan-mail and gives me lectures about how to present myself to the female population and how to impress girls and all that kind of stuff, so could you……" Harry trailed off.

"Seven in the evening starting tomorrow, my office. Now I believe the real reason behind you being here should be addressed." Professor McGonagall said as she gave a significant look towards the Headmaster.

Professor Dumbledore stopped smiling, nodded and cleared his throat before speaking. "Now Harry I don't believe that you are in any way responsible for the attacks and please do not let others who might believe pull you down." Professor Dumbledore paused for a moment as he allowed Harry to process what he had just been told. "However I would like to talk to you."

Dumbledore tapped his long finger together as he considered Harry. "Is there anything that you would like to tell me about? Absolutely anything?"

Harry considered telling Professor Dumbledore about the disembodied voice but decided against it for the nth time. Ron's comment about hearing voices that no-one else heard wasn't a good sign even in the magical world kept on preventing him from doing that. As Harry was thinking about it he suddenly realized something.

"Sir which animal petrifies it's victims?" Harry asked the Headmaster.

"Don't you think we considered that Potter?" As usual Snape had to butt in. "No animal absolutely no known animal petrifies it's victims. Petrification of this serious degree can only be achieved by dark magic."

"Oh." Harry replied. "But it has to be an animal, right because the story says that……."

"It is just a story, Harry." Professor Dumbledore said. "There has been no proof about the chamber or about the monster."

"What about when it was opened 50 years ago?" Harry asked knowing that he was perhaps revealing a lot. As far as he was concerned the chamber existed as Dobby had said so. It was a flimsy reason to believe in something but Harry's gut feeling was to trust Dobby.

"How do you know about that?" Professor Dumbledore asked surprise written large over his face.

"The hat told me." Harry replied. "After I asked him."

"No concrete proof Harry absolutely no concrete proof about that. There was only one attack and it claimed a girl's life. There was no proof about the chamber then except for a similar writing on the wall claiming it's existence. The girl wasn't petrified but killed and from what could be gauged by healers from her dead body, she could have been killed by a curse than an animal." Professor Dumbledore.

Harry was silent for a moment. Something about the whole thing didn't make sense. Then suddenly he remembered Professor Dumbledore's words in the Hospital Wing after Colin was found. 'The chamber of secrets has been opened for sure….' 'The question is not who but how….' Professor Dumbledore was lying to him. If his comments in the Hospital Wing were anything to go by Professor Dumbledore certainly didn't believe that the chamber was a myth. Holy Shit! Professor Dumbledore was lying to him because he too believed that Harry had something to do with the attacks. Great Harry thought now even the Headmaster believes that you are the heir of Slytherin, life couldn't be better. Harry fought to bring his emotions under control before speaking-up again.

"Oh, I guess then that's all I know."

"All right Harry, you can leave now." Professor Dumbledore said and Harry immediately got up and practically ran out of the office.

"Potter knew something more, didn't he?" Snape asked as soon as Harry out.

Dumbledore took another swig of his firewhisky. "You know very-well Severus that he isn't responsible. What I am more afraid of is that, I had the feeling that for some reason he suspects that I believe he is the heir too. Though I cannot fathom why in the world would he think so."

Nobody could come up with a satisfactory answer to that. "Well at least the Quidditch Cup is in my office again." Professor McGonagall said casually, a bit too casually.

"What do you mean Minerva?" Snape shot back.

"Oh come-on Severus, can anyone from your team fly a broom in a blizzard leave alone underwater." Snape couldn't come up with a reply to that and gnashed away his teeth in irritation.

Harry took a long detour back to the Gryffindor Tower. He hardly wanted to face the rest of the Gryffindors right now. The last thing he wanted to know was that Ron and Hermione too believed him to be the heir. The Headmaster believing him to be the heir was enough of a revelation for one day. At the back of his mind he knew that Ron. Hermione and even the twins didn't believe him to be the heir but that didn't stop him from being insecure. And now with Professor Dumbledore himself believing him to be the heir, his days in Hogwarts literally seemed to be numbered. Another attack perhaps and that would be it. Harry decided that the only way he was going to redeem himself if you might was by either catching the person responsible for the current attacks or by at least finding the location of the chamber of secrets. For started he at least needed to be around when the next attack took place. Harry let out a huge sigh as he entered Peeves' classroom and crashed into the mattress that was there, he had thought that his life would be easier once he was away from the Dursleys and at Hogwarts, but boy was he wrong or what………


	15. Tom Riddle and the Basilisk

The double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick had put the castle and the student population into a full-blown terror. There was a mad-rush to book the seats on the Hogwarts Express to head back home for Christmas. All the Weasleys and Harry were staying at Hogwarts. Hermione however was going to return to her parents' for a family Christmas. For a wild moment Harry wanted to actually head back to the 'Dursleys' but the prospect of a practically empty castle for two weeks was more than enough to hold him back.

Harry was quite glad on the last day of the term. He was getting quite tired of running around Percy and not to mention the look of fear on the faces of so many students everytime he passed by them. The week after the double attack had been the hardest for Harry. Apart from the students shooting him fearful looks Harry always felt that the professors were looking at him with suspicion. Most of the Gryffindors however soon decided that Harry being the heir didn't really sound right and were being normal around him again and when the reason for his week-long detention came out in the open; he was suddenly the Quidditch hero of Gryffindor again with everyone now wanting to watch Harry fly underwater again, however with the lake now frozen over it was going to be a long time before he could attempt it again.

The only person in Gryffindor who hadn't backed down was Percy and Harry had a feeling that there was going to be a showdown between him and Percy before long as Percy was literally hindering his search for the chamber. In the time since the double-attacks, thanks to Percy Harry had found it impossible to move around the castle freely in the time before curfew and even after curfew Percy planted himself firmly in the common-room until Harry went to bed. Harry could have used the invisibility cloak to move around but Professor Dumbledore could see through it and the last thing that he wanted was for Professor Dumbledore to catch him out of bounds way after curfew.

On Friday night about ten minutes before curfew Harry suddenly felt rather hungry. "Ron you want to go to the kitchens?" Harry asked.

Ron looked up from his Potions essay and unbelievably actually shook his head. "Naah, I don't have enough strength to walk all the way to the kitchens, but do get me something if you are going there."

Harry laughed a bit as he headed towards the portrait-hole. Just before he closed the portrait-hole he noticed Percy, heading towards the portal too. Harry groaned as he closed the portal behind him, he would never have a chance to reach the centaur before Percy was out in the corridor. Cursing his luck, Harry picked up speed as he rounded the corridor. Out of the corner of the eye he noticed Percy striding towards him. For supposedly following him discretely, Percy sure didn't take care to be discrete. The moment Harry was out of Percy's sight Harry walked up to the portrait of a couple old wizards playing cards and said out the password, 'open straight'.

The moment the portrait swung open Harry swept into it. He knew that he would have very little time before Percy showed up in the corridor. On entering the portrait Harry immediately shut the portrait-hole behind it. A few seconds later, Harry heard Percy's quick footsteps out in the corridor. Percy stopped and then swore loudly and then started walking away again. Cursing Percy for having to miss a snack, Harry started making his way through the passage. He could easily have actually made it to the kitchens and back but not before curfew set in and he really wasn't in a mood for a confrontation with Percy. The passage ended only a corridor away from the common-room. Harry stepped out of the passage and then entered the Common-room.

"That was a quick snack mate. You also got me a lot of things I see." Harry's sarcasm seems to have been rubbed off on Ron.

"Ha-ha. Your dear perfect Prefect brother decided to follow me and I wasn't in any mood for a row with him for returning after curfew or something. So I lost him near the Poker-guys and came back." Harry replied as he settled back onto the couch and opened his Potions' essay. Snape had passed him every single essay so far and Harry wanted to see if he could drive Snape mad if he could come up with a perfect essay and Snape was forced to give him full-marks.

"You are re-writing that essay for the fourth time. What was wrong with it this time?" Hermione asked, completely ignoring Percy's attempted 'detective' work.

"Well, I am just remembered another couple of properties about unicorn hair and there are a few grammatical mistakes and then I found a few more synonyms for some words in that thesaurus of yours, so I am re-writing it." Harry replied a bit mischievously.

"Give-up mate, Snape is never going to give you full marks. Snape will declare his undying love for the Gryffindor Quidditch team before he gives you full marks on an assignment." Ron said.

"Oh well, if you can hope for the Chudley Cannons to win the league, I can surely hope for Snape to give me full marks on an assignment." Harry replied making Ron scowl and Hermione laugh.

"Mr. Potter? How did you get here?" Percy had returned and he didn't look happy at all and his voice had been loud enough to attract the attention of most of the students in the common-room.

"Through the portrait-hole of course." Harry replied evenly and a bit loudly. Most of the students in the common-room burst into laughter and Percy glared at Harry.

"What were you doing out of the common-room beyond the curfew, Mr. Potter?" Percy asked again in a pompous voice.

"I was inside the common room Percy with a whole five minutes to spare. You can ask the Fat-lady if you like. Actually it was you who broke the rules by staying out of the common-room after curfew." Harry replied evenly

Percy looked taken aback. "What? Of course not, I am a prefect. I am allowed……" Harry however didn't allow him to complete the sentence.

"You are allowed to break the curfew only for the purpose of your rounds, not otherwise. I believe this will amount to you, abusing your position Percy and why in the world have you taken to following me around everywhere when I leave the common-room alone?" Harry asked with a slightly raised voice. The entire common-room was by this time staring at Percy waiting for an answer.

"Because……because…..you are attacking students. You are the heir of Slytherin. You were the only one who was unaccounted for after Mrs. Norris was attacked. There was nobody keeping watch over you in the hospital wing when Colin was attacked and you were missing when the double attack took place. You are a parselmouth and the Sorting Hat wanted to place you in Slytherin, I had overheard the twins say so last summer." Percy began hesitantly but ended on a confident note with an eager audience to boot.

The moment Percy had finished his little 'speech' like some tennis match, the entire common room's attention was back on Harry. 'Great' Harry thought, till now everyone simply suspected that he could have been in Slytherin. Now everyone knew for sure and by next morning, the entire school would know that for sure.

"Can you give me one good-reason for me hating all the muggle-borns or the likes? Look, I have no way of proving this but I am not the heir of Slytherin. I cannot give you any proof of that, but…………you will just have to trust me on this." Harry finished and stormed towards his dorm. Just as he was at the base of the stairs he heard Percy's voice.

"I don't trust you Potter." Percy's usual-pompous voice was surprisingly harsh though it sounded more comical than harsh. Cursing Harry went up to his dorm and slipped into his bed but it was a long time before he went off to sleep that night.

Harry woke-up rather late the next day to find the dormitory and the common-room empty. As he had absolutely no way of knowing the time seeing that his watch was broken and the sun wasn't visible at all he simply headed to the Great Hall hoping that there was still some breakfast. Harry knew that there were less than twenty students in the castle at the time so he hoped that there still was some breakfast. He reached the Great Hall to find the twins and Ron seated having a meal but it looked more like lunch than breakfast. Wondering where Ginny had disappeared Harry sat down near them and picked up a plate.

"So respected heir, how are we today?" The twins from the sounds of it had spotted him. "Is the dear old monster sleeping safely today? If thee needs us to service…….."

"Shut up guys. If your dear old brother hears you, he will have me carted to Azkaban." Harry replied irritably.

"Percy is acting like an arse Harry. He probably thinks that if he catches you in action or something he will get speed-promoted to the post of Head Boy before his seventh year itself." Ron replied and Harry couldn't help smiling a bit. He was glad that the twins joked about the entire thing.

"Only a head boy? I thought he wanted to become the Minister of Magic or something, he refers that damn book, 'Prefects who gained Power or Something' doesn't he? Harry replied.

The three Weasleys laughed before the twins replied. "Yeah I think he eventually wants to be the minister or something. Bloody git he's turned into. Bill was bloody brilliant and the Head Boy too but he was never this pompous or stuck-up. In fact he is bloody cool."

No one quite replied to it as the deserts came-up. After lunch the twins disappeared somewhere, while Ron and Harry decided to laze around in the common-room. With Percy seemingly out of the way, it was time to start searching or at least plan for searching the Chamber of Secrets.

"If I were Salazar Slytherin where would I like to hide my great big secret chamber?" Harry asked Ron to kick start their search.

Ron did not reply immediately. "That would be impossible to guess, actually."

"Why exactly?" Harry asked perplexed.

"You remember the morning we got you to the burrow?" Harry nodded so Ron continued. "You remember how the twins were joking about you needing to get a magical trunk? Well those kinds of magical spaces can be rather impossible to find. I mean physically the place might look to be only as small as a trunk but it can be big enough to hold a big dirty monster for centuries. For all we know that place could be under Professor Dumbledore's chair."

The two were silent for a few minutes as they thought about the number of places wherein such a trunk or magically expandable place could be.

"Wouldn't such place give out something of a magical signature or something?" Harry asked out.

"Hermione's field mate, but I guess 'Yes'." Ron replied.

"Then I guess it is not one of those expandable places otherwise it's magical signature or aura or whatever would have been spotted by some or the other person over the centuries." Harry paused for a moment as he thought over it. "That said, there still are passageways unknown to Filch and Dumbledore aren't there?" Harry debunked his own theory.

"Yes, but Peeves knows the ones Filch and Dumbledore do not know. So perhaps we might discard that magical storage place theory." Ron replied after thinking a bit over it. "Searching that is going to be one hell of a task, one hell of an impossible task." Ron finished.

Harry and Ron spent the rest of the afternoon in the common-room actually finishing their Christmas homework. They wanted to spend the rest of the vacation researching about the snake who could petrify it's victims. Unbelievably Ron and Harry finished each and every piece of homework assigned to them just before curfew that night.

"All right mate let's go and search for the bloody heir and the bloody chamber and the animal in it who petrifies it's victims." Ron exclaimed as he packed the last scroll into his bag. Harry only smiled as he went through his essay again trying to make sure that there were no more mistakes. Both Ron and Harry did not notice Ginny at the other end of the common-room freeze when they mentioned searching for the heir. In an instant she was running-up the stairs to her dormitory a quill ready in her hand.

They spent the rest of the time till Christmas combing the castle for some sign of an abnormal anomaly. That was saying something as the entire castle itself was anything but normal. Harry had a feeling that their 'searches' were going to be completely futile. They needed something to work on and the only thing that they had right then was that they were searching for statues of Slytherin. They needed Hermione to come up with some new ideas.

On Christmas morning Harry was woken-up by a pillow from Ron. Hedwig was waiting patiently at the foot of his bed with a note attached to her legs. Harry removed the note which he had a feeling was from the Dursleys. It had a toothpick attached to it and the note asked Harry to find out whether he could stay at Hogwarts for summer too. The rest of the gifts were much more satisfactory as compared to the Dursleys' gift. Mrs. Weasley had once again knitted him a green sweater with a golden snitch upfront. Harry immediately put his sweater on.

Ron and Harry had breakfast with the elves in the kitchen and even gave Chucky a box of chocolates that Harry had owl-ordered from Diagon Alley. Chucky was rather hesitant of accepting a gift from a human, but 'Rusty' mock-threatened her never to return to the kitchens and that did the trick. Chucky however insisted on sharing the chocolates with both 'Rusty' and 'Scarhead' which they didn't mind at all.

The Christmas meal was absolutely brilliant and at the end of it, Harry was sure that he had never eaten so much in his life. After dinner Ron was playing chess against himself and Harry was re-writing his potions' essay 'again'. He was trying to subtly look at Ginny who for once was actually sitting in the common-room at the same time when Harry was in it too and surprisingly not too far away.

Ginny, Harry observed was writing line after line after in a small old diary. Something seemed rather odd about that diary to Harry. It looked very old and Harry realized that in all the time Ginny had used up quite a lot of ink from the ink-well but hadn't turned the page even once. Even as Harry was observing her Ginny raised the cover of the diary and Harry observed the engraving on the cover which said '**T. M. Riddle'**. Something clicked in Harry's mind. He had read that name somewhere. Suddenly it clicked he had polished a special services award to Tom Riddle for detention before the term went out. If Harry wasn't mistaken this Tom Riddle had received that award fifty years ago.

Harry stood-up as if he had been shocked. This 'Riddle-guy' and his diary were feeling very fishy to him. He needed to check whether if that award was fifty years ago. Harry gave a long look towards Ginny and to his great surprise Ginny returned that look. Without saying a single word to anybody Harry opened the portal and was out of it in a flash and heading straight to the trophy room.

Harry reached the trophy-room and began frantically searching around the room for the trophy that he had polished at least thrice during detention. He found it after ten-minutes and noted the year at the bottom of the shield. It was 1942-43. Harry didn't even blink for a few moments. Riddle had got a special services award during the year the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Harry looked around; there were exactly 6-special services awards in the trophy room. The special services awards were obviously not given lightly or frequently. Riddle had to be somehow connected to the Chamber of Secrets but obviously in a positive manner as he got an award for that.

But for some reason that didn't sound right to Harry. His instincts told him that something was off with Riddle and Ginny was obviously writing in a diary that belonged to Riddle. He needed answers and he needed answers fast. Deciding that it was time that he actually confronted Professor Dumbledore head-on he lifted the Special Services Award and set off towards Professor Dumbledore's office with it in hand.

A hundred questions were running through Harry's mind as he started climbing the marble-staircase. When he had climbed about half the stairs he felt as if someone was watching him. He jerked up his head and looked at the top of the staircase. At the top of the staircase stood Ginny with her wand out and pointed dead at Harry.

To say that Harry was surprised would have been an understatement. "Wh……..what are you doing Ginny?" Harry asked. Ginny did not reply immediately and simply stared at Harry. Harry had a feeling that something was wrong, very wrong. Ginny's eyes which were so bright and lively when Harry had seen them during the summer looked literally blank and dull now. Her eyes literally looked dead to Harry. He was sure that her eyes did not look like this even a quarter of an hour ago when he had stared at her. But what was worse was that her face was expressionless. She had a vacant look about her face. It was completely impassive. Suddenly Harry had a brainwave.

"Tom Riddle is that you?" Harry asked out aloud and for a moment a flicker of panic seemed to flirt across her face but it was replaced rather quickly by that impassive look again.

"You are good Potter." Ginny said. But it wasn't her voice at all. It was the voice of a boy, a boy perhaps in his late teens. It was a cold and confident voice. There was only one explanation. This Tom Riddle had to be possessing Ginny somehow.

"Are you possessing Ginny, Riddle?" Harry asked.

Ginny's face broke into a half-smile, a cruel half smile, but somehow it seemed that she was trying to avoid smiling. "Not completely. I can achieve control for short periods of times from time to time. She fights me off and then luckily she cannot remember anything about what happened during that time."

"Did you open the chamber fifty years ago?" Harry asked suddenly surprising even himself.

Ginny/Riddle half smiled again before replying. "You really are good, Potter. That I did, but I managed to kill only one mudblood that time. She still occupies the toilet as a ghost. Right outside the entrance to the chamber. However there is no time for explanation. I have to get rid of you. You seem to be too smart for your own good. I was interested in you but it seems that I won't be able to get to know you better. Adios!"

Ginny/Riddle had barely finished saying that when Harry saw a spell streaking towards him. By pure instinct Harry somehow managed to avoid most of the spell but he it did singe his abdomen and then he lost his balance and fell straight down the staircase. Harry felt a couple of bumps and then he felt a sharp pain in at the back of his neck and a loud crack and then he felt darkness overcome him.

Harry slowly became aware. It was a very gradual process, hampered by the fact that he seemed to be floating in absolute darkness. Of course, 'floating' was his guess and the only guess that he could come up with. He could hear voices around him but he couldn't decipher anything. The floating in the darkness seemed to go on and on. The voices seemed come and go, come and go. Harry could hear them and then not hear them the only thing constant seemed to be the darkness. Harry couldn't seem to do anything in that darkness. He couldn't move as he didn't feel his body at all.

Harry couldn't deduce how much time had passed. He could only feel floating in the darkness. After what seemed like forever, Harry suddenly realized that he could still think. He immediately berated himself for not realizing that before and wasting god knows how many hours or days. But he had a feeling that even with that wastage he was going to have enough time to think.

As the events that he remembered last came back to him he couldn't help but feel depressed. Ginny was being possessed and that probably meant that she would probably die like Quirrel. But he rejected that thought immediately and hoped that it was wrong. He loved her and she couldn't die. Harry cursed. He had messed it up big time, really big time. He hadn't even managed to recognize that the girl that he knew he loved from first time that he saw her was being possessed. As he thought over Riddle's admission about opening the Chamber of Secrets last time around Harry realized that the girl killed had to be Moaning Myrtle. After all the first attack too took place right next to her toilet.

The worst part was that no one, absolutely no one knew a thing about it. Professor Dumbledore suspected him, Ron and Hermione he was sure would not guess about Ginny. He had managed to guess about Riddle only because of the detention that he had served. He had to somehow get out of this darkness. Harry guessed that he was in a come after the fall down the stairs. That was the last thing that he remembered. But the bloody darkness refused to go away.

The darkness had to go away. He had to stop floating and start walking again. He had to get out of the coma if he wanted to save Ginny. He had to get out. Suddenly Harry felt as if he was dropping through air. He wasn't floating anymore. He was falling. Suddenly he felt as if he had reached the bottom of the pit in which he was falling. The darkness wasn't there but the floating sensation had gone. After a moment he realized that he could feel his body now and he also realized that there were voices around him. He concentrated on them.

"What do you think will happen to Harry now that Hogwarts is closing?" That voice had to be Hermione's. Harry realized a moment later the implications of that question. Hogwarts was closing for some reason. Harry had a feeling that the Chamber of Secrets had a big role to play in that.

"I guess they will transfer him to St. Mungos but I have no idea what will happen after that." Harry realized that the voice belonged to Ron but Harry almost didn't recognize the voice. It was so full of misery and sadness that it was almost impossible to recognize it.

"They will find Ginny, Ron. All the Professors are looking for her." That had to be Fred but his voice sounded completely sad too.

"You read the message Fred, it said her skeletons will lie in the chamber forever……." Ron seemed to be inconsolable.

Harry's body almost jumped out of his skin. Ginny had been taken to the chamber of secrets. This meant only one thing, she was going to die. He had to do something, anything. With an enormous effort he opened his eyes and realized that he didn't any effort at all to do that. He groaned immediately after opening his eyes. The light was blinding. There was silence around his bed. Harry tried to speak but his throat was dry and raspy. He simply motioned towards his throat and hoped that someone would give him water.

Suddenly there was a flurry of activity around his bed. Someone pushed on his glasses onto his eyes and a moment later someone had put a goblet of water to his lips. Swallowing that water was very hard but Harry swallowed. He had to. He needed to ask questions. A few gulps later Harry decided that he could talk. He opened his eyes to see George with the goblet of water in his hands and Fred, Ron and Hermione all standing around him looking anxious.

"Ginny? How much time?" Harry asked. Even as he spoke the words amazingly he felt his throat becoming less sore, if that was even possible.

Ron, Hermione and the twins exchanged a look and from that look it was quite clear to Harry that they were not going to answer him and divert the topic to his health. Harry saw Hermione going towards Madame Pomfrey's office. He gathered his thoughts and decided that he was going to go for broke.

He propped himself up. Surprisingly his hands only felt sore. He had half expected muscle atrophy to occur but Madame Pomfrey seemed to have given him some potion to avoid that. In a fluid motion he jumped off the bed and onto his feet.

"Whoa mate what are you doing?" The twins asked and Ron rushed to support him. Harry motioned Ron to stop. His legs felt sore and stiff but they supported his weight all right. He took a tentative step forward and managed it.

"Harry-mate what are you doing?" George asked but Harry still didn't reply. He took a few steps around and found out that he could walk almost normally again. He took the goblet of water from George and gulped down the water. He looked up to see the twins and Ron staring at him.

"How much time has gone by since Ginny disappeared?" Harry asked again in a tone which suggested that he needed an answer.

"Look mate, you have been in a coma for over four months………." Ron began but Harry cut in.

"Where was the message written?"

Seeing that Harry was demanding answers the twins caved in. "She's been gone for almost four hours now Harry and the message was right next to the first one. McGonagall has announced that they are closing the school."

Harry suddenly wondered about Mrs. Weasley. "Is your mother here?"

"Mum and dad are supposed to be here but we haven't me them yet." Ron replied

Harry thought over it and decided that he needed Professor Dumbledore. "Get Professor Dumbledore here right now."

"Harry you have to explain to………." George began but stopped on observing the look on Harry's face.

"Dumbledore is not in the castle Harry. Penelope Clearwater and Collingwood, two Ravenclaw prefects were attacked and Lucius Malfoy got the board of governors to suspend him and the ministry arrested Hagrid too.

Harry heard the entire thing was his mind was working in an overdrive. If Professor Dumbledore wasn't there it meant that he had to do it alone. Of course he could be completely wrong and the entrance might not even be in the toilet of Moaning Myrtle but he had to try. He didn't even know what monster was there in the chamber but he had to go, go and try. If Ginny died he would never be able to forgive himself, hell he doubted he could look at any Weasley in the eye again. Harry made a decision in an instant.

He turned around and opened the cabinet next to the bed where he knew personal belongings of patients were kept. His shoes were there and socks and a pair of jeans and oversized t-shirt and of course his wand. He grabbed them all and dumped them onto the bed.

"Whoa Harry what are you doing?" Ron asked a bit frantically. But Harry did not reply and instead concentrated on getting into his oversized clothes. The last item that he put on was the sweater that Mrs. Weasley had gifted him for Christmas. He took another look at it and his resolve hardened.

"Harry!" Ron cried out again.

"Harry c'mon what re you doing?" George this time.

"Talk to us Harry." Fred said.

Harry took a look at the three who were looking frantic now and sneaking looks at the door hoping that Madame Pomfrey would walk in and blocking him. "Look guys I know that this may sound incredulous but I know what is going on and I think that I know where the chamber is and I am going after Ginny and try to get her out of Tom Riddle's control."

There was dead silence among the three Weasleys. Harry wondered if they thought that he was mad, but considering some of the harebrained things that he had come-up with over the past year and a half………

"What do you mean Harry and who is this Tom Riddle his Special Services Award was lying next to you when you were found." Ron asked.

"No time to explain right now, but I have to go and I have to go alone." Harry said.

"No, Harry she is our sister. We have to try and save her." Ron responded.

"Yes, Harry we are coming with you." The twins added.

"Look if anything were to happen to you I would never be able to forgive myself and it would kill your mother. You have a family and people would care if something were to happen to you. No one would care if anything were to happen to me. And I really have to do this alone for reasons that I simply can't explain right now." Harry replied.

"What reasons Harry?" Fred asked.

Harry wondered if he could tell them about Riddle possessing Ginny. "Do you know how I fell down the staircase?" Harry asked in the end.

The three Weasley brothers shook their heads.

"Ginny attacked me." Harry replied tersely. The instant he had said that he saw the three brothers freeze up. "Before you jump to any conclusion, she didn't attack me of her free will and probably she doesn't even remember doing that. I can't explain any further right now. Please guys I have to go. Go alone." Harry reiterated.

"No we have to go too Harry; there is no-way we will allow you to do this alone." Ron reiterated.

"No listen to me guys, I am going on a wild goose-chase here and for all I know I might walking straight into a death-trap and I cannot and will not allow you to come on perhaps a suicidal quest. If I were to come unharmed out of it and something was to happen to you I would never be able to live with it and neither will Ginny if something happens to you, while you are trying to her. Please guys………"

Amazingly Ron nodded and a moment later the twins nodded their consent too. "We don't know how in the world are we doing this but I guess you can go alone." The twins replied.

"Thanks guys." Harry said as he turned and started walking towards the door. "Would you mind not following me on the map, please?" Harry requested.

"It is back in our trunk, Harry so don't worry. All the best." George replied.

Harry walked briskly out of the hospital wing. He was surprised that Hermione hadn't returned with Madame Pomfrey yet. Thanking his lucky stars he practically ran out of the Hospital Wing and started making his way towards the Gryffindor common-room first. He probably reached the portrait-hole in record time and there he encountered his first problem, he didn't know the password. The Fat Lady looked at Harry in great surprise.

"Why Mr. Potter aren't you indisposed in the infirmary? You were supposed to perhaps pass away." She asked.

"Err I was, but now I am up and need to get in to the common-room. But I don't have the password. It was dragon-heart the last time." Harry said. He was pretty desperate. He needed to get to his dorm and get his broom. He felt that a broom could be highly useful. But he didn't have much time. "Please lady I need to get in and out, please?"

It looked like the Fat Lady was thinking over it. After a moment she swung open.

"Thanks, I owe you real big." Harry said as he went into the common room through the portrait-hole. The common-room was pretty silent as it is, but the moment Harry entered it the silence was deafening. Everybody was looking at Harry as if he was some ghost.

"Yeah I am not dead but I have no time right now." Harry said as he streaked towards his dorm. He wasn't in his dorm for more than a moment when Dean, Seamus and Neville entered right behind him.

"Harry what are you doing here?" It was Neville. Harry turned around to answer and realized that practically all the boys in the common-room had made their way up to the dorm.

"I came to get my broom. Look I wasn't lying I don't have time I have to go now. If Madame Pomfrey comes here and sees that I have run away after being in coma for 4 months she will kill me and I can't afford that." Harry replied as he started climbing down the staircase.

"You are going to save her or something aren't you?" Harry spun around. It was Angelina.

"Well I am going to try………" Harry left that hanging as he streaked out of the portrait-hole. Once out of the portrait-hole he swung onto the broom and started flying down the staircase.

Within five minutes he reached the wall where the original message had been painted. Right next to that one were the words; 'Her bones will lie in the chamber forever'.

Harry increases his pace and entered the toilet. It happened to be a girls' toilet but according to Hermione no one ever used it. There was water on the floor. A few moments after he had entered Moaning Myrtle emerged out of a stall.

"What re you doing here?" She asked in a squeaky voice. "This is a girls' toilet and you are not a girl."

Harry looked around the toilet and realized that he would need her help if he was to find out anything about the entrance. "How did you die Myrtle?"

The moment Harry had asked that question, Myrtle's eyes lit-up if that was even possible. Her face practically brightened-up and a small smile started playing on her lips. It almost looked like she had been asked the most flattering question of the century.

"No one has ever asked me that before." Myrtle replied and Harry was a bit surprised at that. One would have thought that someone would have questioned the only known victim of the chamber of secrets.

But he didn't have time to dwell on it as Myrtle continued. It was dreadful," she said with relish. "It happened right in here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. I was hiding because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then…." Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining. "I died."

Great, Harry thought. The only victim and she doesn't know a thing about it. "How exactly did you die Myrtle? I need to know." Harry asked with a bit of a panic in his voice.

"No idea," said Myrtle in hushed tones. "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away . . . ." She looked dreamily at Harry. "And then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see; oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."

"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" said Harry his heart beating a lot faster now.

"Somewhere there," said Myrtle, pointing vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet.

The moment Myrtle mentioned the sink Harry was next to it, examining it with the closest scrutiny possible. It looked like a completely ordinary sink, but Harry instinctively felt that it was more than that. Harry went down on his knees and started examining the pipes that led away from the sink. Then he saw it, there was a snake etched on the pipe.

As he saw the snake Harry suddenly realized something and cursed out loudly. Of course a snake. Slytherin was a Parselmouth. The entrance needed a parselmouth to open it obviously. Even as he was thinking about how to open it he had another brainwave. The monster had to be some kind of snake too. That is why he could hear it and no one else could. He could hear it because he was a parselmouth.

He looked at the snake again. In the light of his wand the snake almost seemed alive. He willed himself to see the snake alive. "_Open up_." Harry tried to say in Parseltongue.

Except that the words weren't what he heard; a strange hissing had escaped him, and at once the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Next second, the sink began to move; the sink, in fact, sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.

Harry took a deep breath. He had found the entrance to the chamber of secrets. He was going to go into it after Ginny. He only hoped that the wild hope that he had about Ginny being somehow alive wasn't just that, a hope. He dropped the broom and then he lowered himself slowly into the pipe, then let go. It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. He could see more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as theirs, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, and he knew that he was falling deeper below the school than even the dungeons.

As Harry was sliding down the pipe, he realized that he had absolutely no plan about what to do once in the Chamber of Secrets. He had no idea about how he was going to manage to dispossess Ginny from Riddle. It was just like last year. He was acting out of pure desperation. His skills probably didn't match up to this Quirrel guy either, but he had to do something, anything. Just then the pipe straightened out and Harry shot out of the pipe and landed on the damp hard stone floor of the tunnel, which was large enough for him to stand in.

Harry took a couple of deep breaths, lit his wand again, picked up his Nimbus and then started walking in the only direction present. Harry had a feeling that he was probably under the lake as the walls were wet and slimy. The tunnel was quiet and literally a grave. There were skeletons of small animals. The skeletons were near full but were shaped a bit oddly. It reinforced Harry's hunch about the monster being a snake. Harry tried to ignore the images of a dead Ginny that came to his mind and moved on.

After a few moments he came into a giant cavern, Harry looked around and froze. A giant snake lay just beyond the light of his wand to his right. It was at least 20-feet long. Harry was deciding what kind of a spell to cast on it but something about the snake seemed odd. It for some reason felt dead to Harry. Harry picked up a stone lying nearby and hurled it at the snake. The snake did not even seem to notice it. Harry moved closer and realized that snake wasn't a snake but just some old discarded snake-skin. Harry breathed a sigh of relief at that, but then the realization hit him that the snake must be enormous.

Harry took a moment to take in the realization of the size of the monster and then set off again. The tunnel turned and turned again. Every nerve in Harry's body was tingling unpleasantly. He wanted the tunnel to end, yet dreaded what he'd find when it did. And then, at last, as he crept around yet another bend, he saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds. Harry approached his throat very dry. There was no need to pretend these stone snakes were real; their eyes looked strangely alive.

He could guess what he had to do. He cleared his throat, and the emerald eyes seemed to flicker.

"Open, "said Harry, in a low, faint hiss.

The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and Harry, shaking from head to foot, walked inside. He was standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.

Harry's heart was beating very fast. Where was the twenty feet long monster? More importantly, where in the world was Ginny? There was no sign of them both. He pulled out his wand and set off towards the giant face that he could barely make out at the end of the pillars. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to be following him. More than once, with a jolt of the stomach, he thought he saw one stir.

Then, as he drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue high as the

Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall. Harry had to crane his neck to look up into the giant face above: It was ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous gray feet stood on the smooth Chamber floor. And between the feet, facedown lay a small, black-robed figure with flaming-red hair.

"Ginny!" Harry ran to her prone body. He pocketed his wand, dropped the broom and fell to his knees. Ginny's eyes were closed and her body felt very cold to touch. But she wasn't petrified by whatever was there in the chamber. But the thing that made Harry's heart soar inspite of the situation was that her face wasn't expressionless anymore. It had a look of fear written large over it, somehow Harry found it very comforting. He had a feeling that Riddle didn't possess her anymore. "C'mon Ginny wake up. You have to wake up Ginny. I won't be able to forgive myself if you didn't. C'mon Ginny wake up for heavens sake."

"She won't wake up." Harry had heard that voice before. Even before he had stood up and turned around he had his wand drawn out and pointing it towards the source of the voice. The source of the voice seemed to be a handsome boy of perhaps 16 or 17. It was Tom Riddle. Harry stared at the figure of the boy who seemed to be at the centre of all the mess. Harry stared at the boy again, something seemed to off about him. The edges of his body seemed to be misty and he almost seemed to be translucent.

"Hello Tom, how are you doing?" Harry asked evenly.

"You are supposed to be in coma." Riddle said in a toneless voice, which gave Harry the creeps.

"Yeah, well my body has never quite stood up to the expectations of medical science. It tends to surpass it quite easily." Harry replied. So I guess Ginny finally managed to throw you out." Harry asked wondering what he was to do.

Tom laughed. It was a cold mirthless laugh. "On the contrary Harry Potter, after a year's fight I have finally managed to gain full control of her body and indeed soul. Gradually her life-force is slipping away. In about three hours or so her life force will completely be transferred to me. She will be dead and I will be alive again. She poured too much of her soul into my diary when she wrote in her diary. It was boring listening and replying back to the rants of a childish girl at first but I persisted. The information that she provided me about you was extremely valuable. She really was a stupid little girl." Riddle gave that cold mirthless laugh again.

Harry had heard that laugh before somewhere and it was not on the staircase. But he barely had time to think about that, Ginny would die somehow in the next hour if Riddle wasn't killed in some manner. The diary had to be the key, but Harry couldn't see it anywhere and he certainly couldn't sit down and start searching for it. Meanwhile the panic must have shown on his face as Tom Riddle gave that cold, high laugh again and that clicked something in Harry's mind.

"Voldemort?" Harry asked in a steady voice that most certainly belied his feelings at the moment.

Riddle's laughter faltered. He looked at Harry with eyes narrowed. "How did you guess?" He asked at length.

"I have heard that laugh before Riddle. But what are you? You certainly aren't the pathetic excuse for a wizard that had to leech off someone else last year. I would have known if the Voldemort from last year had returned. So what are you?" Harry asked.

Riddle didn't reply immediately but looked as if he was weighing his answer. "I am a back-up plan Potter. A part of his rather my soul. Once I gain my body completely, Voldemort will be back."

"Well I think I prefer you as Voldemort, you look a lot better than last year's does." Harry replied simply hoping to buy sometime. "So is this why you wanted to get to know me better?"

Riddle had a flash of anger pass on his face but he replied after a moment. "I was rather interested as to how a 15month baby could defeat the greatest wizard alive."

"Boy, you are conceited or what? How Snape ever served you is beyond me." Harry replied without missing a beat.

"Conceited Potter? I can do things that you can barely dream about. I have pushed the limits of magic like no one else ever has. I have…….." Riddle began rattling but Harry interrupted him.

"Can you fly underwater?"

"WHAT? You cannot fly underwater." Riddle surprisingly answered. Harry had a feeling that it was his ego that was making him reply.

"Of course, you cannot. But I can. I did fly underwater, even got a detention for that from Professor McGonagall."

"ENOUGH!" Riddle screamed out. "I am the greatest wizard that was ever born and now I am going to get rid of you. I wanted to know a few things but those don't matter anymore you are going to die." Riddle screamed and turned towards the statue of Slytherin. Harry had a feeling that the monster of Slytherin was about to be unleashed on him.

"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four." Riddle called out towards the statue in Parseltongue.

Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. Horrorstruck, Harry saw his mouth opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole. And something was stirring inside the statue's mouth. Something was slithering up from its depths. Harry started backing away from the statue's mouth but then he realized the Ginny was right there. He tried to lift Ginny but could barely manage it. So he settled to drag her away. But before he could start that he heard something heavy, very heavy hit the chamber floor. He looked towards the noise and saw a gigantic snakes uncoil. It had to be at least sixty feet in length and it's body was as thick as an oak. It's skin was venomous green in colour. He looked at the eyes and was surprised to see big, literally cauldron-sized yellow eyes staring back at him. Harry stared at the eyes wondering if he was supposed to be dead by now. Myrtle had said something about dying on seeing big yellow eyes.

"You should be DEAD!" Riddle screamed in Harry's direction. Harry tore away his eyes from the big yellow eyes to look at Riddle.

"I have jumped off a broomstick midair and flown underwater, I tend to get that a lot of times." Harry replied.

"NO, the snake is a basilisk, the king of snakes. You should have died the moment you looked at it's eyes."

Harry looked at the snake again but with much more trepidation. He didn't die. He had a feeling being a parselmouth probably had to do something with it. "You really are quite stupid Tom. I am parselmouth. How do you think I got into the chamber?"

For a moment Riddle almost looked chastened. It was clear that he had completely missed that small point. It looked like he was about to say something but then he turned towards the basilisk and Harry heard his hissing voice again.

"Kill him."

A moment later, the basilisk started uncoiling and started slithering towards Harry. Harry decided that it would be better if he ran away from Ginny. Riddle probably couldn't have Ginny dieing. Harry ran towards the entrance of the chamber. The basilisk was slowly but surely catching up with him. 'I need help. Some desperate and big-time help.' Harry thought as he blundered towards the opening. Suddenly out of nowhere the sorting Hat fell right in front of him. Harry snatched it out of midair. He couldn't think of anything else to do so he simply jammed it over his head. He predicted that he would have at least thirty seconds before the basilisk's saber-like long and thin fangs impaled him.

"_How the hell are you going to help me?"_ Harry asked in a panicky voice.

"_Take me off and then put you hand in me again, you will get your answer."_

Harry wasted no time he took off the hat and put his hand in it. The hat contracted as if an invisible hand was squeezing it. Suddenly there was something in Harry's hand. He pulled it out and it turned out to be a gleaming silver sword. It's handle was glittering with rubies the size of eggs.

Harry wasted no time. He unceremoniously dropped the hat and turned around to face the basilisk. For such a large creature the basilisk had great mobility. Harry knew that within five seconds the basilisk was going to be upon him. He waited until the last moment possible. The basilisk reared it's mighty head and started bringing it down. Harry moved at the last possible instant and jumped out of the way. The basilisk couldn't change the direction of it's head once it had started bringing it down and Harry managed to avoid it pretty easily, it was just like Quidditch.

'SHIT!' Harry thought he had got the broom for this very reason. He ran down the chamber at full tilt again but he was hindered by the weight of the sword. Luckily the basilisk seemed to be taking a bit of time to follow too and Harry reached his broom, grabbed it in one hand and jumped into the air on it.

As Harry began flying high over the basilisk, he realized that it absolutely wasn't like Quidditch. He was had to somehow kill or at least incapacitate the basilisk and then he had to take care of that damn diary which he wasn't sure how to destroy. It had after-all survived for fifty-years. To top it off he was on a time-limit. Cursing his 'cursed' luck Harry swooped down towards the basilisk sword ready in one hand and steering the broom with the other.

As he went lower the basilisk made a lunge at him in the air, Harry barely managed to get away in time. But when he got away, he found himself flying over the long body of the basilisk. He took a swipe at the body somewhere right in the middle but it was completely futile. It was like metal striking metal except that the sword did not even scratch the snake's skin. Harry tried once again but with the same effect. After the third attempt he had to fly back into the air as the basilisk's head had made it's way back near him.

Harry wondered how the hell was he going to kill the basilisk with the sword. He wondered if it was like the troll. The skin was too tough; he would have to attack right inside the mouth. 'Great' he thought. He would literally have to burn himself to put out the fire. But that was to be expected he supposed; the basilisk was after all the king of snakes according to Riddle.

He flew around the chamber again. Riddle was calmly sitting on a stone perch waiting for the basilisk to complete it's job. Harry knew that the basilisk would get him in due time. He had to attack it's mouth quickly and successfully. He dived towards the basilisk's mouth. The basilisk stopped moving realizing that it's intended victim was coming straight for his mouth. Harry raised the sword and at the same time that the basilisk lunged for him he drove the sword cleanly through the roof of the basilisk's mouth and blood started spewing out.

But as warm blood drenched Harry's arms, he felt a searing pain just above his elbow. One long, poisonous fang was sinking deeper and deeper into his arm and then it was dragged along the length of Harry arm and it finally it splintered as the basilisk keeled over sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor.

Harry knew that his game was up. He barely managed to fly towards Ginny and then collapsed right next to her. He had failed her. She was going to die. He pulled out the fang that was spreading fatal poison through his blood-stream. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Riddle walking towards him.

"You are dying Harry Potter. You will die a slow and painful death now. You have been defeated by the greatest wizard of all time." Riddle arrogantly announced.

Harry's vision was starting to darken. He moved his head for what he knew would be his last look of Ginny's beautiful face. He looked at her and suddenly out of the corner of his eyes he spotted the diary. Gathering every ounce of energy left in his dying body, Harry lunged at the diary and grabbed it.

"Nobody dies in vain Riddle." Harry said and he barely caught the look of surprise and panic on Riddle's face as he plunged the basilisk fang still in his heart straight into the diary. "And for the record, Professor Dumbledore's the greatest wizard alive."

Harry had barely finished his last sentence when there was a long, dreadful, piercing scream. Ink spurted out of the diary in torrents, streaming over Harry's hands, flooding the floor. Riddle was writhing and twisting, screaming and flailing and then he was gone.

Harry fell back as he heard a soft moan come from Ginny a few feet away. Ginny was alive and hopefully going to be all right. He hadn't failed her after-all.

"Harrrrry!" Ginny had spotted him and was standing over him. "Ha……..Harry I-I am sorry….I…it was me but he made me do it…. R-Riddle took me o-over….." 

"Don't Ginny. Don't beat yourself over it. You were hoodwinked by Voldemort. But you are alive and well enjoy it." Harry said as the pain in his arm intensified, slowly but surely he was slipping away.

"B-But you are dy—dying." Ginny said looking at the bloodied arm and she was clearly crying now.

"Yeah, I could sure use that phoenix that Madame Pomfrey talked about." Harry said resorting to the only thing that he could think of. He was really feeling really drowsy now and everything seemed to spinning around him.

Suddenly there was a burst of fire at the top of the nearest pillar and the phoenix song could be heard. A crimson bird with a golden tail appeared and within a few moments was flying towards Harry. It was Fawkes. The phoenix stopped singing and immediately and Harry felt Fawkes lying it's beautiful head at Harry's wound and then he started crying.

"H-Harry what is….." Ginny started but stopped when Harry held up his good arm.

Harry blinked. Fawke's head slid in and out of focus. Thick, pearly tears were trickling down the glossy feathers. Harry's heart suddenly jumped. Phoenix tears, he might actually make it out of here. Slowly but surely felt the pain going away. The darkness that was threatening to overcome him seemed to be going away too. The chamber was coming back into focus. Harry shook his head as he looked at the long wound. There were white pearly tears shining around the wound, but there was no wound. There was only a long and a bit jagged scar.

"Harry w-what is happening?" Ginny asked amazed.

"Phoenix tears. They have healing powers. But I thought that they never cried for anyone except their companions." Harry answered as he watched Fawkes fly away and settle on a perch a few feet away. He suddenly realized that Ginny had gone back to crying now that he seemed to be out of danger. He pulled himself up and steadied himself for a few moments. He felt a bit dizzy but it passed after a moment. He looked at Ginny sitting next to him and crying her heart out. He did the only thing that made any sense to him. He went near her and hugged her.

Ginny tensed for a moment and then relaxed as she literally cried on his shoulder. Harry didn't know how much time had gone by but Ginny finally seemed to have stopped crying. She was however holding onto Harry very tightly. Harry had somehow felt a bit better too after Ginny had stopped crying.

He was feeling so nice hugging her. She seemed so perfect in his arms. It was as if he had come home. But he shook himself. She had been through an unbelievably traumatizing experience and he certainly couldn't think along any other lines except getting her out of the chamber.

"Ginny, we have to go back. Your parents will be worried sick about you. They are supposed to be in the school I think."

But the mention of her parents upset Ginny. "They are going to hate me. I opened the chamber of secrets. I almost killed so many students and I—I al…almost killed you too and you came after me here to save….." Ginny began crying again.

"Don't Ginny. Don't cry and certainly don't blame yourself. I said o before and I will say so again, you were possessed and forced to do all those things by Tom Riddle or Voldemort as he is better known as." That seemed to be news to Ginny as she jerked her head up.

"T—Tom was 'you-know-who'?"'

"Yes and call him Voldemort. He forced you, please don't cry. I don't hate you, I can't hate you." Harry pleaded.

"What?" Ginny asked confusedly.

"Err nothing, just don't blame yourself. C'mon now we have to get going. Mrs. Weasley will be absolutely devastated." Harry said as he got up and helped Ginny get up too. Harry walked towards the dead basilisk and took out the sword from the flesh. It wasn't easy. Ginny had practically attached herself to him. He knew that she was probably only drawing some measure of comfort from him but his heart soared nonetheless.

With the sword and the broom stick in one hand and the other arm supporting Ginny, Harry started walking towards the entrance of the chamber. Along the way he also picked up the old and frayed sorting hat and tucked it into his belt. His Weasley sweater, Harry realized was torn again. That was two in two years. In fact he had barely worn this one twice. Fawkes was serenely following the two towards the pipe.

When they reached the pipe Fawkes flew ahead and directed his tail towards Harry. "I think we need to catch hold of the tail Ginny. Here hold my broomstick and hold my hand tightly." Harry said giving the broomstick to Ginny and holding her other hand ever so tightly and then took hold of Fawkes' tail. A moment later Fawkes flew into the pipe and a minute later they were back in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"You are alive." Myrtle said the moment she spotted Harry.

"Yeah I suppose." Harry said as he started smiling.

"Why are you smiling, Harry?" Ginny asked in a low almost faltering voice.

"Well, I have been asked that question about ten times today by various people in the last couple of hours. So……"

"Oh, I—I am sorry for that fall and the coma, Harry."

"There is absolutely nothing to be sorry about Ginny, so please quit saying so. You fought Riddle off for nearly a year. He said so himself. Can you imagine the mental strength that you must have shown to fight off Voldemort himself? I know I don't have that kind of strength." Harry paused for a moment. "C'mon I think Fawkes wants us to follow him again.

Ginny nodded and started walking again holding Harry's hand as tightly as she could. "When did you wake from the coma?" Ginny asked.

"About an hour before you woke up." Harry replied.

Ginny didn't reply but only stared at him with her beautiful brown eyes. They were red and puffy at the moment but Harry was absolutely sure that they were beautiful. Harry thought over the entire saga and wondered where exactly had Ginny got the diary.

"Where did you get the diary Ginny?"

"Oh—it was in my old transfiguration book. I thought that someone had left it there and forgot all about it. So….."

Transfiguration book. Harry couldn't remember but something about Ginny's transfiguration book was familiar to him. He couldn't imagine why. He had only seen it in the bookstore when…….

"OH SHIT!" Harry exclaimed out aloud.

"What is wrong Harry?" Ginny asked.

Harry wondered whether he should tell her about his doubts but he decided not to hide anything from her. "No one forgot the diary in your Transfiguration book Ginny. Who was holding that book in his hands in the bookstore before flinging it into your cauldron?"

Ginny thought over it for a moment and then her eyes went as wide as saucers. "Y—You mean that Malfoy……." Harry nodded as he picked his pace and Fawkes seemed to fly a bit more quickly too. "He hates dad. He wanted dad's muggle-protection law turned over too." Ginny said after sometime.

"Well I don't think that the muggle protection act or you are going anywhere." Harry said confidently. After a few more minutes the two found themselves outside Professor McGonagall's office. Harry could hear a loud voice coming from inside. He knew that voice, it was Lucius Malfoy.

Harry walked towards the door and threw it open. There was a dead quiet in the office as everyone's eyes fell on Harry and then on Ginny practically standing next to him. The silence stretched on for another moment and then there was a scream. "GINNY!" It was Mrs. Weasley, despair written large on her face she rushed towards the two and hugged Ginny with all her might. Mr. Weasley was not far behind either. Harry looked around and realized that everyone in the room was staring at him with disbelieving looks on their faces.

There was a considerable amount of blood on his body and his sweater was torn. There was also a lot of dried blood on his hand and his face. With the sword literally at ready in his hand he cut a rather 'interesting' figure for a twelve year old. Harry looked around the office again and saw that all the Weasley brothers in Hogwarts and Hermione were present. The twins and Ron had started smiling, Hermione looked like she was crying and smiling at the same time and Harry couldn't gauge Percy's reaction. At the desk was seated Professor Dumbledore who seemed to be almost smiling as he petted Fawkes and Professor McGonagall was standing behind him and was taking big heaving breaths of disbelief and languishing in the shadows was Snape. But it was the man sitting in front of the desk clearly looking like he had been interrupted in the middle of a rant that Harry was rather interested in. Harry's blood was already boiling and when he saw Dobby clinging the feet of Lucius Malfoy he knew that his assumptions were absolutely right.

"Harry you……." Mrs. Weasley had just entangled herself from Ginny and was coming over towards Harry, but stopped when Harry started literally streaking towards Lucius Malfoy.

Within six steps Harry was next to Lucius Malfoy and he winded up his right hand and punched him right on the nose. There were shouts around the room and Harry heard Professor McGonagall call him but he ignored him. Lucius Malfoy staggered in the chair and almost fell from it. Lucius Malfoy made a move to get his wand but Harry was way quicker. A milli-second later the bloodied silver sword was pressed dead against Lucius Malfoy's throat and Malfoy froze.

"Move and I will kill you Malfoy and without any regrets." Harry said in a surprisingly cold voice and with a mad gleam in his eyes. Malfoy actually looked afraid on spotting that gleam.

"Harry, what are you doing? Please lower that sword." It was Professor Dumbledore but Harry completely ignored him.

"Ron, Hermione, Fred and George please meet Dobby." Harry said pointing to the now terrified looking house-elf who was now crouching behind Malfoy. It took for a moment for the implications of that statement to sink in and then simultaneously four wands too in addition to the sword were pointing at Lucius Malfoy.

Harry chanced another look around the office. Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall both looked completely confused and Professor McGonagall looked almost outraged at her students' behaviour. Percy looked ready to hand out detentions. Snape for a change couldn't hide the look of confusion on his face either.

"Harry would you please explain what is going on?" Professor Dumbledore asked. Harry had a feeling that he somehow knew something about Ginny being alive but he had absolutely no idea about the four wands and a sword pointed at Malfoy.

"I think, Mr. Malfoy here is in much better position and health to explain Sir. Aren't you Malfoy?" Harry said the sword still firmly pressed at Malfoy's throat.

"W—What nonsense is this? I am being….." Malfoy began but stopped when Harry pressed the sword's tip right at Malfoy's Adam's apple.

"The truth, please Malfoy or I swear I won't be able to control my actions and I think the twins are raring to have a go at you too. I don't think your nose can take anymore punches and you need it for breathing."

"Harry, lower that sword RIGHT NOW!" It was Professor McGonagall and Harry knew that he had to lower it. He lowered it and Malfoy literally crumbled deeper into the chair. "Good, now I want an explanation and that goes for you four too." Professor McGonagall warned and the wands were lowered albeit a bit hesitantly.

Harry placed the sword on the table and whipped out the diary from his belt. "Recognize this Malfoy?" Harry asked and he watched Malfoy's eyes go wide and for a moment Harry saw fear in them. Harry placed the diary on the table and slid it across the table and it was deftly picked up by Professor Dumbledore. "I think that will answer your questions that you mentioned in the infirmary after Colin was found, Professor. I believe you have heard about Tom Riddle, Sir. Though I must say that the seventeen year old looked much better that the arse that I saw last year with attached to Quirrel's head."

It took for a moment for the significance of the last sentence to sink in and immediately Harry heard gasps around the room and once again a gaggle of questions was directed towards him, but Professor Dumbledore held up a hand to quiten everyone. His eyes were literally gleaming as he picked up the diary and examined it closely. "Miss Weasley wrote in it?" Professor Dumbledore asked Harry after a few moments. Harry nodded. "How did she get the diary?"

Harry paused for a moment before answering that. "Malfoy placed it in her transfiguration book in Diagon Alley."

"What kind of blasphemy is this? I give the silly little…….."Malfoy began but was interrupted by Harry again.

"SHUT UP Malfoy. I have just woken up from a four month long coma, killed a bloody 60-feet long basilisk and I have almost died from his bite, all in the last 120minutes. So I am a little stressed out. So how about the freaking truth for a bit." Harry screamed out and the declaration about the basilisk had hit home. Immediately questions started pouring in from all directions but Harry didn't answer any nor did he really comprehend any.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Malfoy replied. Harry didn't reply but simply kept staring at him. "You can't prove anything Potter." Malfoy said with much more confidence and malice.

"I don't need to." Was Harry's only reply.

"What exactly is going on here?" Snape finally seemed to have lost his patience. "What utter blasphemy are you uttering POTTER? Basilisks are a legend. If there was one, you would have died the instant the basilisk set its eyes on you. Basilisks are historical legends." Snape sneered.

"Would you like to go down to chamber of secrets, Sir?" Was Harry's only reply and Snape shut-up immediately.

"Harry an explanation please?" Professor McGonagall demanded firmly yet softy. Her voice was heavy with emotion.

"Wait for a moment Harry." Professor Dumbledore said. "Mr. Malfoy I believe it is time for you to leave."

"WHAT!" About six indignant voices spoke up. Mrs. Weasley didn't say anything she was too busy keeping a close hold on Ginny. Harry too was quiet; he knew that he would never be able to prove anything in any court of law. He knew for a fact that a house-elf had no rights in the wizarding world and his testimony would account for absolutely nothing.

"But Albus….." Mr. Weasley began but was interrupted by Professor Dumbledore.

"Lucius is quite right Arthur. It cannot be proved in a court of law."

"This sucks you know Sir." Harry said to Professor Dumbledore. Who smiled and yet was observing Malfoy very keenly.

"Mr. Malfoy I believe that it is time for you to leave now, you will be hearing about your position on the Board of Governors very soon. Now leave please. I would advise you, Lucius, not to go giving out any more of Lord Voldemort's old school things. If any more of them find their way into innocent hands, I think Arthur Weasley, for one, will make sure they are traced back to you." Professor Dumbledore said with some authority. Mr. Malfoy got up very slowly and began walking out Dobby in his wake. Suddenly Harry realized that Dobby would be going back to the abusive treatment that the Malfoys subjected him to.

"Wait." Harry said and surprisingly Lucius Malfoy stopped in his steps. "Give clothes to Dobby please."

Surprise was written large on Malfoy's face. "What?"

Harry whipped out his wand this time. "Free Dobby, Malfoy. Give him clothes."

Malfoy stared at Harry for a moment but it looked like he didn't want another confrontation. He removed his glove and threw it to Dobby who caught it with glee obvious on his small face. Malfoy took another look at Harry and walked away from the room. Harry watched him leave the room and wondered if there was any way in which he could have somehow proved that Malfoy gave the diary to Ginny. His musings were interrupted by Dobby.

"Harry Potter freed Dobby!" said the elf shrilly, gazing up at Harry, moonlight from the nearest window reflected in his orb-like eyes. "Harry Potter set Dobby free! Harry Potter is far greater than Dobby first thought. Harry Potter is not only brave and courageous but he is also compassionate. Harry Potter cares for lowly Dobby." A bit of laughter could be heard around the room and Harry decided to interrupt Dobby before he got totally out of hand.

"Stop Dobby. Stop before you give me a bighead and Professor Snape kicks you out." Harry said and this time the twins and Ron let out voracious laughter and Harry saw a small smile play on Ginny's face too and his heart leaped at that. "Well that was the least I could do. Do come visit me sometimes. You know where I stay."

Dobby smiled widely bowed deeply, clicked his fingers and he was away. Harry turned around and saw Professor Dumbledore smiling at him. Professor McGonagall was looking at him with a look that he couldn't place at all and Snape was red in the face. Harry suddenly felt very tired as he collapsed into the chair that Malfoy had vacated and closed his eyes. The events of the last few hours finally caught up with his emotions and he couldn't help the moistening of his eyes. A few moments later he was enveloped in a tight loving hug. It was Mrs. Weasley.

"You saved her Harry. You saved her and almost………" Mrs. Weasley said as Harry relaxed and began crying a bit. A minute later Mrs. Weasley released him and Harry had stopped crying. Mrs. Weasley practically ran towards Ginny after releasing Harry from her embrace.

"Harry if you can….." Professor Dumbledore left that hanging. Harry didn't really want to answer that but he decided that it was better if he got out everything immediately instead of postponing it. He then began his story, starting with Dobby's visit over the summer and how he had thought that it was prank by someone to keep him away from Hogwarts. When he told about the voices that he heard twice and once right before the attack, Professor Dumbledore interrupted him.

"But why didn't you mention that to me, when I asked you about it before Christmas?"

Harry paused for a moment, wondering how exactly was he going to answer that and he decided that the truth would be the best way forward. "I had heard you talking in the infirmary after Colin was attacked. You said something about the question being, 'how' the chamber was opened rather than by 'whom'. Then you said in the office a few days later that you had no proof about the Chamber's existence. I thought that you suspected me to be the heir too. So……." Harry said and Professor Dumbledore nodded his head but did not say anything. So Harry continued the story about how Riddle had attacked him on Christmas day and his declaration about the chamber's opening being in a bathroom occupied by the girl whom he had killed the first time. So after he had regained consciousness earlier he had acted on the hunch that the opening was in the bathroom and gone ahead.

"I found the opening and went in. Riddle was there. We had a little talk and he summoned the basilisk, when somehow the sorting hat dropped out of thin air right in front of me. That's how I got the sword and then I killed the basilisk using the sword and punctured the diary, which made Riddle go away and here we are." Harry said, his throat a bit sore now.

"But—how did you not die when you saw the basilisk?" Snape asked in a tone which Harry had never heard before.

"It seems that Parselmouths are immune from the eye-thing." Harry replied. The room was dead quiet. Everyone was looking at him with incredulous looks. Suddenly a small voice spoke up.

"The basilisk bit him and he almost died too." It was Ginny. "Then Fawkes came and somehow healed the long wound on his hand and he didn't die." Ginny finished. A moment later Harry was enveloped in another hug from Mrs. Weasley who was crying quite freely now. The room was still rather quiet and Harry heard a few soft sobs from Ginny and perhaps Hermione. It was Professor Dumbledore who spoke up after sometime.

"Molly, if you don't mind please take Miss Ginny to the infirmary. It has been quite a terrible experience for her and some rest and sleep should do her wonders. Needless to say that there will be absolutely no punishment. Older and much wiser wizards including yours truly have been hoodwinked by Voldemort. The petrified victims should be awake already so no harm done."

Harry turned towards Ginny and gave her a quiet little smile as she got to her feet. Mrs. Weasley however stopped and turned towards Professor Dumbledore. "What about Harry, Albus?"

Professor Dumbledore smiled softly before replying. "I promise Molly, ten minutes and I will send him to the infirmary too." The rest of the Weasley clan and Hermione followed their parents. Harry motioned Ron to pick up his broom which he picked up and moved on.

"Well, Minerva and Severus I believe that there is absolutely no need to close down the school anymore and I believe this also calls for a celebration, so could you please alert the kitchens?" Harry had a feeling that celebration and Snape ever went hand in hand and smiled at the look on Snape's face. However Snape nodded and left the room and Harry couldn't help taking a last dig while it was still free for him.

"Pizzas would be nice." Harry called out aloud. Snape only grinded his teeth and left the room without replying.

"We are going to have another talk, Mr. Potter about certain aspects of you behaviour. Is that clear?" Professor McGonagall warned. "Also I would like to discuss a few things about your subjects next year, so do grace this office again as early as possible." Harry nodded as Professor McGonagall closed the door behind her back.

"Now, Harry I can say nothing except 'sorry' and 'Thank you' again. Twice in two years. You must have shown great courage, bravery and loyalty to me to have Fawkes cry for you. I dare say I cannot be more thankful for that. Let me tell you this Harry, I never ever doubted you to be the heir and never will. You are a true Gryffindor and always will be."

Harry smiled awkwardly as he clearly doubted that. Professor Dumbledore spotted that and smiled too.

"Here take a look at the sword Harry." He said handing over the sword to Harry. Harry took it in his hands and admired it's beauty for the first time. As he observed the hilt more closely he noticed the name engraved in gold on it. It read, _**'Godric Gryffindor'**_. The surprise must have shown on his face as Professor Dumbledore continued on. "Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled out the sword Harry."

Harry did not reply immediately, there still was a nagging doubt at the back of his mind. "Why can I speak Parseltongue?"

"That I believe is something that happened purely by accident. When the curse backfired on Voldemort I suspect some of his powers were transferred to you."

"Oh." Was all that Harry could come up with. It was quiet for a few moments before Harry spoke up as he remembered something that the twins had mentioned in the infirmary.

"Why was Hagrid arrested?"

Professor Dumbledore smiled serenely again. "Riddle had tricked everyone into believing that one of Hagrid's pet was responsible for the death of the Miss Myrtle. He was expelled then and the Minister for magic arrested him as a precaution again. I will be writing to Azkaban immediately and we shall be having our gamekeeper back very soon."

"Oh." Harry replied again as he thought over it and remembered how Hagrid wasn't allowed to do magic because of the expulsion. "Sir, can I ask you for a favour?" Professor Dumbledore nodded so Harry continued. "Err, do you think that Hagrid could be you know allowed to do magic again? That is without his pink umbrella, I think he misses it."

Professor Dumbledore smiled very widely. "I promise you, I will make sure that he can perform magic again. Now I think, it would be best of you head towards the infirmary otherwise Molly would be out for my blood." Professor Dumbledore said as he started writing on a parchment. Harry did a double-take at the loopy handwriting. He had seen it before.

"You gave me the Invisibility Cloak last Christmas." Harry said in half wonder, half accusation.

"That I did. Harry." Professor Dumbledore replied smilingly. "Your father had left it in my possession and I believed that it was time for it to be returned back to the rightful owner. Our father would have been rather mad at me otherwise."

Harry smiled as he got up to left the room.

"Just one last question Harry." Professor Dumbledore interrupted. "Why do the house-elves insist that no Harry Potter has ever visited the kitchen when I believe that you most certainly have found it out?"

"Oh that. They know me as Scarhead, that's why I think they deny that Harry Potter has ever visited the kitchens." Harry replied as Professor Dumbledore laughed and waved him out.


	16. Talking with Ginny

Harry closed the door behind him and leaned against the door. It really had been quite a night. He didn't really feel like going to the infirmary. Ginny would be there and he wasn't very sure that he could really control his feelings. One thing was certain, Ginny was going to be absolutely devastated by the events and Harry promised himself that, he would do everything in his power to help her overcome it. He decided to head towards the kitchen. Even though there was to be a feast he was rather interested in having some food alone and he sure felt hungry.

"Ah there is the hero of the day, running off to Merlin knows where!" The twins and Ron seemed to have been waiting right outside the office. Harry was surprised to see Hedwig on Ron's shoulders. She flew over and settled on Harry's shoulder and gently nipped his ears.

"How have you been girl?" Harry asked and Hedwig gave a hoot that Harry could only decipher as disapproval. Harry laughed as she stroked her feathers.

"Hey guys. Aren't you supposed to be in the infirmary?" Harry asked.

"Naah that would be you. We are here on a special mission to escort you to the infirmary." The twins replied.

"C'mon guys….." Began Harry but stopped when Ron gave him a one-armed hug which made Hedwig hoot irritably but she didn't fly away.

"We owe you big time Harry, real big time." Ron said as the twins too took the opportunity to give some hugs of their own.

"It's all-right guys." Harry wanted to say a lot more things but couldn't say anything else then.

"C'mon lets go we have some introductions to make." The twins said as they literally pushed Harry towards the infirmary.

"Not the infirmary guys please. Madame Pomfrey would be out for my blood and would probably force me back into a bed. To top it off I am hungry, let's go to the kitchens." Harry pleaded. "Or even better, you think that the Three Broomsticks is open right now?"

The twins exchanged a look and had a devious smile on their faces. "Why Harrikins are you adventurous or what today? Yeah I think so; they have rooms there so the snack bar is open 24 hours a day."

"Yeah, lets go there I really need to be out of Madame Pomfrey's reach." Harry replied.

"Well Fred my dear twin brother, take these young men to Hogsmeade through the passage behind the mirror on the fourth floor and I will get the others right after you." George said in a singsong voice as he started going towards the infirmary and Fred began walking towards the fourth floor.

"So what happened in the four months?" Harry asked as he kept on petting Hedwig, her presence was very soothing to Harry.

"Almost five months mate; it is the 30th of May today. Anyways, Quidditch got cancelled after you fell. Everyone was quite pissed off at that time as no-one could imagine why Dumbledore would cancel Quidditch only because of what everyone thought was an accident. But I guess the Special Services Award given to Riddle lying next to you, obviously told him a lot. Then I think Lockhart ran away today and Snape was actually normal in class. I think he is an arse especially when you are around." Ron said.

"Whoa—whoa, Lockhart ran away?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, it seems that he was bragging about knowing all along where the chamber was and stuff so when McGonagall asked him to go there today, he simply fled away." Fred replied.

"Good riddance. Hermione is devastated of course." Ron added and the three burst into laughter. A few minutes later they reached the mirror and Fred took out his wand but Harry stopped him.

"Wait I want to try out something." Harry said as he moved in front of the mirror. Steeling himself to talk in Parseltongue he said, "_Open_."

Nothing happened for a few moments and then the mirror slid back into the wall and the passageway opened.

"WHAT the?" Ron and Fred exclaimed simultaneously.

"I knew it." Harry exclaimed.

"Knew what?" Ron asked.

"I think most doors and everything in the castle can be operated by Parselmouth." Harry replied.

"What, you are kidding me right?" Fred asked.

"Naah, it was just a hunch. I will have to confirm it but I think that I am right about it." Harry replied.

"Brilliant that means we can get into the Slytherin common-room without needing to know the password or anything….."Fred began listing all the wonderful avenues that opened up as they made their way through the tunnel. A few minutes later they reached a solid stone-wall.

"It's caved in Fred." Ron said.

"No it hasn't. We thought so too at first but that isn't the case. Take a look at this." Saying so Fred pressed a stone jutting out right at the bottom of the pile. A moment later a grinding noise could be heard and the stone-wall slid up.

"It is some kind of a safety device or something. It reactivates after we have come and gone through for five or six time." Fred said looking pleased at the wondrous looks on the faces of Ron and Harry. They started moving forward in wand-light. They talked very little as they needed to really concentrate on walking. A few minutes later they reached another stone-wall. Fred pressed an outcropping and the stones slid back to reveal black sky. The three stepped into the open air and Harry breathed in the fresh air. For some reason being out in the open seemed to sort of energize him.

"Girl you can fly off to hunt if you want." Harry said to Hedwig who seemed to consider it for a moment and then hooted softly before flying off.

"Let's get going mate; it's a bit of a walk actually from here till the Three Broomsticks." Fred said as he led the two along. It was quite dark and walking was a bit difficult as they had 'noxed' out their wands. About ten minutes later they found themselves in front of the 'Three Broomsticks'.

"Well we know that it is at least open." Ron said pointing at the lights which were burning bright inside. There was only a single waiter inside who was flipping through a book.

"Aren't you too young to be out at this time of the night?" The waiter asked.

"Yeah we are too young to do a lot of things but shit happens." Harry replied and the waiter jumped as his eyes fell on all the blood on Harry's body.

"Wait h—here I will get the owner." The waiter replied before literally running away.

"I think we are going to meet the lovely Madame Rosermeta again." Fred said and sure enough five minutes later a clearly irritated Madame Rosermeta entered in a dressing gown, wand ready in her hand.

"Who are you…..Harry? It that you?" She asked.

"Yeah that would be me." Harry replied a bit pensively.

"But you are……"

"…Supposed to be dead? I have got that a lot of times today." Harry replied a bit irritated.

"W—What happened? They are closing the school aren't they? Some nasty business with the Slytherin monster or something?" She asked.

"They were going to until young Harrikins here the hero of the day decided to save the school by slaying the 60-feet basilisk, minutes after waking up from a four month long coma. We came out of the castle as Harry did not want to be forced into the infirmary again. Now can we please get something? We are really hungry." Fred said.

"Y—You what? So that explains the blood. Oh my! You are one…..Merlin!" She exclaimed her eyes never leaving Harry. "But you cannot eat like this. Not with all this blood and all. Come here, I will show to a room. Get a hot shower and I will get you some new clothes." Harry stared at her in disbelief. "C'mon now it's all on the house too, hurry up while the rest of you can sit down."

Harry smiled widely. "You sure you want to put everything on the house. There are three Weasleys here they can eat a lot." Harry said as Ron and Fred protested in mock indignation as Madame Rosermeta led him away towards an empty room. She showed him into a room.

"Use the shower, there will be some new soap and towels in there. I will leave a new set of clothes for you here." Rosermeta said and left the room.

Harry entered the bathroom and looked at the mirror for the first time in four months. He really did look messed up. Harry removed his clothes and entered the shower and turned it on. The water was scalding hot but he didn't mind that at all. He really needed to get all that blood off him. He watched all the red-colored water drain off and thought over the night's happenings. He had no idea for how long he was in the shower but he was sure that it must have been really long. Finally he rinsed off all the soap, dried himself and went out into the room. Sure enough there was a brand new set of clothes for him. For a change everything besides the underwear fitted him almost perfectly. Harry took a moment to try and flatten his wet hair but he knew that it was going to be a losing battle.

He took another look at his bloodied clothes. They were quite out of commission. His Weasley-sweater was ruined beyond repair and that was the only thing that really bothered him. It was gift that he had really begun cherishing since last year. Sighing he threw the clothes away into the bin. He looked at his arm. Fawkes had managed to heal the wound but he hadn't been able to prevent the scarring. There was thin and long scar running pretty much along the length of his forearm. He took a moment for himself and then walked out of the room.

There were now six heads at the table where Fred and Ron were sitting. Harry could spot five redheads among them so he imagined that Mr. Weasley and Percy of all the persons must have come down and to his surprise Hermione was there too.

"Ah, little Harrikins returns." George had spotted him. There was a flurry of sudden activity and Harry saw Hermione dash towards him and give him a small hug.

"Are you mad Harry? Running away from the infirmary. Your muscles could have seixed up. Your movements might not have been all that quick. Your responses wouldn't have been all that sharp. You could have had a head-rush while flying. You could have died. You are just mad." Hermione said with a lot of emotion.

"All-right, I am alive Hermione and I am NOT dead so can you please stop crying, it's all-right." Harry said as he and Hermione started walking back. As Harry looked at the table he realized that the two other red-heads weren't actually Mr. Weasley and Percy someone totally different.

"Ah Harry you haven't met our two older brothers." George began the introductions. "This is Bill formerly our favourite person and he is Charlie the best seeker that Hogwarts had seen before you came along left him behind by some distance."

Harry laughed as he shook their hands and was quite surprised. Charlie was built like the twins, shorter and stockier than Percy and Ron, who were both long and lanky. He had a broad, good natured face, which was weather-beaten and so freckly that he looked almost tanned; his arms were muscular, and one of them had a large, shiny burn on it. Bill however was a total surprise. He was tall, with long hair that he had tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing an earring with what looked like a fang dangling from it. Bill's clothes would not have looked out of place at a rock concert, except that Harry recognized his boots to be made, not of leather, but of dragon-hide.

"You are Bill! Bill who was the Head-boy?" Harry asked in disbelief and everyone laughed out quite loudly. "How could have you been the Head-boy? You are—are……" Harry left the sentence hanging as another round of laughter broke out.

"I can assure you Harry, I am William Weasley himself and I believe I owe you a big debt of gratitude. I—we can never thank you enough for….." Bill began but was interrupted by Harry.

"Don't Bill, please." Harry literally pleaded. "I was the only one who could have done it. I was the only one who knew where the chamber was and I was the only one who could have opened it and for that matter looked at the damn basilisk without dying. I made a hell a lot of mistakes through the year. Hell Dobby had warned me about 'bad things' happening in Hogwarts in July last year but I thought that it was some kind of a joke and didn't even inform Professor Dumbledore about it, not even after the attacks started. I didn't even tell Professor Dumbledore about the voices because I was too afraid that he would be convinced that I was the heir and throw me out. I was afraid to open-up completely and Ginny paid the price of my fears. I had seen Quirrel being possessed last year. I should have guessed that something was wrong with Ginny when she seemed to be so lifeless and dull when by Ron's description she clearly wasn't so before coming to Hogwarts. She used to always write in that blasted diary and never, not once turned a page. It took me four months to realize that something was completely off with the diary and spot the name 'RIDDLE'. I should have been discrete when I went to the trophy-room, hell Professor Dumbledore can't follow me when I am under the invisibility cloak I sincerely doubt that Ginny could have managed it. It was a damned bloody mess-up, a mess-up of colossal proportions…………" Harry let that hanging with tears in his eyes, he knew that he had said one thing too many especially in front of Ginny's brothers. He had a feeling that they were going to have more than a vague idea about what he felt for Ginny. But that couldn't be helped now; the cat was really out of the bag now.

"She was around us for eleven years mate. We were more than equally, much more responsible for the mess-up as you put it." George said in a soft tone that Harry had never ever heard from the twins and he had a feeling that he would probably never hear that tone again either.

"Here are your seven butterbeers and assorted chicken and tuna sandwiches." Madame Rosermeta had brought two trays worth of food. "If you need anything more please don't hesitate and it's all on the house." Madame Rosermeta said and then left the table. The pile of sandwiches was enormous and mouth-watering but no-one looked intent on touching it. There was a bit of heavy silence at the table as everyone's thought were a rather heavy with things about what could have been.

"All-right everyone, that's enough. The numerous ifs and buts have absolutely no meaning. It's done and dusted now….almost dusted now. Things could have been completely different if dad hadn't passed the muggle-protection act either, so let's please stop dwelling on these now meaningless conjectures and hypothesis." Bill said firmly and forcefully. "And Harry, hear me out. Whether you believe it or not, the Weasleys do owe you a big debt of gratitude for what you did. And whether you believe it or not no-one could have seen through the mess. You are twelve Harry not even an adult. In ideal circumstances your mistakes should only fetch you detentions. But in an ideal world there wouldn't be a chamber of secrets. We rushed back home mentally prepared for a funeral for Ginny; instead we got back our sister very much alive. What you did was very courageous and much more than creditable; I don't think that anyone not even perhaps Dumbledore would have managed to kill a basilisk. So chin up Harry and all you guys."

Everyone was quiet for a moment and Harry somehow felt much better than he had been a couple of moments before. He could imagine why Bill seemed to be the twins' favourite person. Bill seemed to know the right thing to say at the right time. A minute later everyone started eating.

"So Charlie how is Norbert, our dragon doing?" Harry asked after a moment.

"Well, Norbert is actually Norberta and she is doing very well. In fact I will send you some photos when I get back." Charlie replied.

"Whoa—whoa, are you trying to tell me that the dragon-story from last year was actually true and you really did have a pet dragon?" The twins asked with incredulous looks on their faces.

"Yeah we did have a pet dragon last year, but then Hermione developed cold-feet so we had to give it away." Ron replied and the table broke into laughter.

"You aren't planning on keeping any serpents or anybody as pets, are you Harry?" The twins asked and Harry was glad that they joked about his Parseltongue abilities.

"But sincerely how did you three come across a dragon?" Charlie asked.

"It wasn't really ours. Hagrid won the egg and then hatched it and then was insisting on raising it in his wooden hut, so we had to do some damage-control and sending the dragon to a reserve was the only idea that we could come up with. But Harry didn't want to mention his name as he was afraid he would get into trouble. You should send the photos to him; I think he really misses her." Hermione replied.

"Why was he arrested anyways?" Fred asked.

"He was expelled because 50years ago, Tom Riddle managed to convince everyone that Hagrid's pet was responsible for the deaths. So Fudge had him arrested. He should be out by now actually. And Professor Dumbledore has promised that he would ensure that he would be able to do magic again." Harry replied.

The seven talked for a long time with Charlie telling them glorious tales about the dragon reserves. Hermione grilled Bill about his job as a Curse-breaker. Harry doubted that she seriously wanted to become one as she had grilled Charlie similarly about the qualifications and skills needed to become a dragon-handler too and he sure couldn't envision Hermione as a dragon handler. Suddenly Harry remembered a conversation from the first day of the year and he couldn't help ribbing Hermione.

"Hermione, you do realize that I did manage to go through the year without buying the books that Lockhart had assigned?" Harry asked with an impish smile.

Hermione went red before the patented scandalized look surfaced on her face. "You what? How did you manage to complete the homework? This is insane."

"Hold your horses Hermione and listen to this. The two of us never submitted a single piece of homework to Lockhart and just as Harry had predicted the phony arse never realized that even once." Ron said which had Hermione jumping to her feet.

"You what….? Are you mad…? He didn't…..? You mean…...? How could…..?" Hermione could hardly bring herself to finish a question as the Weasleys and Harry burst into peals of laughter.

"Little Harrikins and Ronnikens that has to be a first too. You two went through almost three terms without submitting a single piece of homework of a subject. You have created HISTORY once again!" The twins declared and everyone started laughing again and it seemed that Hermione's face was forever going to have the scandalized look embossed onto it.

Finally at about half past five everyone seemed to have had enough grub and they decided to head back to the castle. Bill and Charlie apparated back to the Burrow while the five students made their way back to the castle. Hermione was further scandalized that the twins could leave the castle anytime they wanted and wanted them to inform someone about the secret passages. Finally Ron decided that it was time to take up the argument with Hermione and the twins and Harry knew that the argument was going to have no logical end anymore.

They finally reached the common-room to find it and the dorms completely empty. "Looks like they really are having a feast." The twins said as they entered their dorms. Harry crashed into his bed without changing out of his clothes but he could hardly sleep. He simply couldn't stop thinking about what Ginny must be going through right now. Would she be having nightmares over this? Would the guilt be overwhelming her? Would she even manage to sleep? Harry knew that Madame Pomfrey would probably have given her the dreamless potion but Harry had a feeling that, it wouldn't be enough. Finally he couldn't take it anymore. He leapt out of his bed, grabbed the invisibility cloak from his trunk and set off towards the Hospital Wing.

The feast seemed to be over as many Gryffindors were returning to the common-room. Harry heard snatches of conversation and heard his absence from the feast being mentioned more than once, but he completely ignored it and chose to soldier on towards the Hospital Wing.

He finally reached the Hospital Wing to find the double doors closed. He pushed them open slightly and made his way into the Wing to find Madame Pomfrey's office door open. Madame Pomfrey was asleep in the comfy-chair in her office. Harry knew that she really must have had a long day and his disappearance from the Hospital Wing after four months of coma and not being present must not have helped her at all. Feeling a bit guilty, Harry grabbed one of the regulation Hospital Wing sheets from the rack and laid it on her. He moved-on into the wing where the beds were and spotted curtains drawn across a bed right at the end of the room. He guessed that must be where Ginny would be. He made his way there to find Ginny on the bed with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley asleep on chairs around the bed.

Harry thought that Ginny had a look of fatigue on her face but Harry found that comforting. He very much doubted that he could ever forget the expression-less face. Her flaming-red hair seemed to cast a sort of halo around her which made her look really pretty. Harry mentally shook himself, he needed to concentrate on the thing that he had come to do. Ginny looked to be sleeping but Harry wasn't too sure about that. For some reason he could tell that she certainly wasn't asleep at all and was quite plagued with guilt. Ginny moved a bit when Harry approached the bed but she did not open her eyes. Harry spotted a flask of purple potion on the cabinet next to the table and it was quite clear that she had barely drunk anything from it. He approached the bed and decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Ginny? It's me Harry." He began cautiously, for all he knew she could, well be in deep sleep. But he was convinced that it wasn't the case. "C'mon open your eyes. I think I know what you are thinking about. You shouldn't be feeling guilty over this entire thing. I thought that we were quite clear about this and over it. C'mon now open your eyes and take the remaining dreamless sleep potion." Harry said. For a moment Ginny showed no reaction but then she opened her eyes. Her coffee brown eyes were glistening with moisture and Harry realized that she was crying. But before he could say anything Ginny spoke-up.

"How did you know that I was awake?" she asked. "And how did you know what I was feeling?"

"Lucky guess, I suppose." Harry replied a bit dryly. He certainly couldn't bear to see Ginny in so much pain. It wasn't physical pain but deep emotional pain. Harry could almost feel the intense and vivid pain that she was feeling. The kind of pain, Harry guessed was the most difficult to cope-up with.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed, Harry? I remember mum sending the twins to get you straight to the infirmary. But you never turned up and Bill and Charlie left sometime later too."

"Yeah, I wanted to spend sometime away from the infirmary, so your brothers and I went down—down to the kitchens for a snack. Anyways, I am perfectly all-right now. It is you who needs the bed-rest ET all." Harry softly replied.

"I don't think that I can sleep……" Ginny began but Harry interrupted her.

"That's why we have the dreamless-sleep-potion. Take it and sleep tight for some hours. And we really need to talk about that feeling responsible and guilty thing after that. Now, c'mon drink it all." Harry said as he handed her the flask. Ginny eyed Harry for a moment and then took the flask from his hand and downed the entire potion without any further protests.

"Have a good night's—rather day's sleep." Harry said as he placed the flask back onto the cabinet. "I will see you when you wake-up again, if Madame Pomfrey hasn't shackled me to the bed that is." Harry whispered and Ginny smiled a bit making Harry feel much better. Barely a minute later Harry watched Ginny's eyes close and this time Harry was convinced that she was indeed asleep. He softly kissed the top of her head and then started walking towards the double doors again. He pulled on his invisibility cloak and then left the infirmary and began heading towards the Gryffindor tower. This time he was quite ready to sleep.

Back around Ginny's bed a certain middle-aged couple was staring quite wide-eyed at each other, their daughter and the infirmary double doors which would seemed to have opened and closed on their own account had they not seen Harry pull on the invisibility cloak a moment before that.

"He really is something isn't he?" Arthur Weasley casually mentioned to his wife after a few moments.

Molly Weasley did not reply immediately. Too many thoughts were racing through her mind but she did nod after a brief pause. "A really is a sweet boy who seems to have needed to grow-up too quickly but a thorough gentleman at that." She replied with tears glistening in her eyes.

Arthur Weasley could only nod his head in agreement over that as he settled back into his chair satisfied that his only daughter was quite certainly asleep now.

Harry woke-up later that day to find that it was almost evening again. As he didn't have a watch anymore he couldn't tell the time but guessing by the empty dorm and the sun's position, it would have to be late afternoon at the least. He found a note on the cabinet by the bed and a girly watch that he knew was one of the six that Hermione owned. A prim and proper girl's only excess, he supposed. The note held 'summouns' from Professor McGonagall. She had asked him to present himself in her office at exactly 5'O clock. Looking at Hermione's watch, he realized that he had only about half an hour before getting to her office so he dragged himself out of the bed. He took a shower, got dressed and left for Professor McGonagall's office.

There were a few students in the common-room who gave Harry a small round of applause, making Harry groan. He forced-smiled a bit and then moved out the portal after having a full length conversation with the Fat Lady. She informed Harry that all the school-exams had been cancelled however OWLS and NEWTS weren't. She also informed that all the petrified students and him too were going to be promoted. Harry wondered out loud how in the world she had come across all the information but she had only smiled genially. He reached Professor McGonagall's office after a few minutes, knocked and entered the office. Professor McGonagall was sitting behind the desk this time and also seated in front was Madame Pomfrey.

"Take a seat Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall said. Her tone was back to it's usual firm and no-nonsense tenor. Madame Pomfrey didn't say anything but the glare that he received from her was more than enough to tell Harry what he was going to get from her. He decided to pre-empt that.

"Madame Pomfrey, so nice to see you." He began in a rather poor imitation of the twins. "Your predictions are getting………"

"Shut-up Potter and stand still for a moment." Madame Pomfrey interrupted as she stood up and started poking him with her wand. After a couple of minutes she stopped and sat down and started noting down in her file. "Well, it seems that you are indeed quite fine. How you manage that is quite beyond me. Honestly a basilisk bite and what not?"

"Err mam why was in a coma? I mean I know that I fell down a staircase and all but you can mend broken bones and all very easily and all……" Harry asked.

Madame Pomfrey exchanged a look with Professor McGonagall before continuing. "There was some spell on you too. It must have been poorly aimed or knowing you, you might have simply jumped out of the way. However neither I nor anybody else could identify the spell. We had a team of specialist healers, who deal with spell-damage come from St. Mungos to try and identify it and treat you but that didn't work out well either. We had no idea when, if at all you were going to come out of the coma. So you realize why you running away and getting almost killed by a basilisk was such an irresponsible action. Even though in hindsight I cannot blame you at all as a person but as a healer, I daresay I have a totally different opinion." Madame Pomfrey finished her long narration.

Harry nodded as he thought over it. It was quite surprising that no-one was able to guess the spell. How could a 17-year old student know a spell so advanced that even super-specialists could not identify. He tried to remember the day when Riddle had cursed him. He had said it so softly that he had barely heard him hiss the spell. 'Hiss!' Of course that is why no one could identify the spell. "I don't think anyone in the world would have managed to identify the spell." Harry said out almost involuntarily.

"What do you mean Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked rather intrigued.

"Are there, you know some kind of parallel Parseltongue spells or something? I think that is what Riddle used on me that day and that is why no-one could guess what kind of a spell that was." Harry asked.

Professor McGonagall's eyebrows shot into her hair and she for some reason needed to compose herself before replying. "I do not have any idea, Mr. Potter. However, I will run it through Professor Dumbledore."

"Well, I believe my job is done here. I would have liked to keep you under observation for a couple of days; however knowing you I would just say that turn up every day before breakfast for a check-up until I ask you to stop." Madame Pomfrey ordered and Harry simply nodded. As Madame Pomfrey began leaving the room Harry couldn't resist taking a small dig.

"Mam can I ask you something?" Harry asked Madame Pomfrey.

"Yes Harry, you may." She replied.

"Well have you thought about teaching divination next year? I am not that keen on it but if you would consent to teach…….." Harry asked but Madame Pomfrey didn't deign to even hear him out completely as she slammed the door muttering something about keeping her mouth shut around Potters.

Harry turned around to spot a small smile playing on Professor McGonagall's face. "So I guess you have given you subjects some thought and which ones have you chosen?"

"Arithmancy, Runes and Care of Magical Creatures." Harry replied. The subjects had been pretty much drilled into his head by Hermione in the three broomsticks. Hermione had signed-up for all subjects but Harry had no intention of doing so. Ron however had put his foot down and had decided to go with Divination and Care of Magical creatures as those two sounded and were the easiest.

"That three Mr. Potter, two is all that is officially required from students." Professor McGonagall said in what Harry thought was a cautionary tone.

"Oh. Well I guess then I will drop Runes. I don't like theoretical subjects too much anyways." Harry said pretty much instantly. He didn't really want to take three subjects but he didn't have the strength to argue with Hermione earlier.

"Very well, Mr. Potter. I shall make sure that you are enrolled into Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures. Please make sure that you do visit the infirmary everyday until further notice." Professor McGonagall said. "And now I believe I would like to talk about your behaviour last night, especially pertaining to the use of a sword." Professor McGonagall said and Harry knew that he was in for quite a ripping.

Harry finally left the office half an hour later and decided to take a bite in the kitchens before doing anything else. But as he reached the first floor his thoughts wandered over to Ginny who he supposed would still be in the Hospital Wing. Harry somehow instinctively knew that she was awake and feeling down. Deciding to forgo dinner, he headed towards the Hospital Wing. The double doors were open and Harry entered the wing to notice that the curtains were still drawn around Ginny's bed. Harry peeked around the curtains to see that Ginny was awake and sitting on a chair with her eyes shut. Harry sighed deeply; her guilt-ridden face didn't present a pretty face at all.

"Hey." He called out as a way of greeting. Ginny did not react immediately nor was she surprised. Harry had a feeling that she somehow knew that he was there. After a few moments she looked up.

"Hi Harry." She replied a bit shyly. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to see you of course. I had promised you hadn't I?" Harry replied as he made he sat down on a chair. "Where are your parents?" Harry asked realizing for the first time that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley weren't present.

"Dad had to go to work and Mum went back with Bill and Charlie to see them off." Ginny replied a bit dejectedly.

"I guess that then Bill is your favourite person too?" Harry asked remembering the twins' declaration about Bill being their ex-favourite person.

"Yeah, actually the twins aped me. About three or four years ago, I declared that Bill was my favourite brother after the twins had pranked me and he had helped me get back at them. Only the twins took that in a very good sense and elevated him to their favourite person." Ginny replied a small smile playing on her face which made Harry smile a bit too.

"So when are you going to be released from here?"

"Tomorrow morning I think. There is nothing much wrong with me?" Ginny replied.

Harry raised his eyebrows at that. "And do you think that there is something wrong with you?"

Ginny did not reply immediately. "I don't know, why I am even answering you. I had barely spoken with you before yesterday and yet talking with you seems so easy now." Ginny said and then went quiet.

"I will take that as a yes." Harry said after a moment. Ginny jerked her head-up and raised her eyebrows in question. There was a bit of anger in her eyes which Harry thought made her look beautiful. But there was guilt, a lot of guilt mixed in it and Harry's heart clenched tightly. Even as these very thoughts were going through Harry's mind, the anger disappeared to be replaced with wholesome guilt. It was almost as if Ginny knew what Harry was thinking about.

"Do you think you can walk till Hagrid's hut and back?" Harry asked suddenly. "I want to meet Hagrid and also want to introduce you to someone."

"Okay—no." Ginny replied making Harry raise his eyebrows in question. "I—I killed Hagrid's roosters." Ginny replied guiltily.

"You or Tom, Ginny?" Harry asked with a small sigh. If Ginny was going to keep on believing that it was going to be real tough. But it was bound to be difficult. It had been less than a day since the nightmare had ended.

"Tom—I guess, but it was me……" Ginny began but Harry interrupted her.

"Let's allow Hagrid to make that decision shall we?" Harry said as he practically pulled her away from the chair. For a moment Harry wondered if he had crossed his limit but Ginny got-up and put on her shoes. Before leaving the curtains Harry got out the invisibility cloak and pulled it over the two of them making Ginny gasp.

"Is it an invisibility cloak?" She asked in wonder.

Harry smiled before replying. For the first time since he had entered her voice sounded normal and her eyes had a small spark in them. "Yes, it is. It belonged to my dad. Professor Dumbledore gave it to me last Christmas."

Harry was glad that he had thought about bringing along the cloak as Madame Pomfrey had returned from dinner just as they were leaving the Hospital Wing. Once they were outside the castle, Harry removed the cloak and stuffed it back into his robes. They walked towards Hagrid's hut in silence. Harry had a feeling that Ginny was a bit nervous and hoped that Hagrid would be as understanding as he had hoped. For a wild moment panic rose in his heart as he imagined what would happen if Hagrid wasn't as understanding as he had hoped. But he pushed that thought away ruthlessly. The Hagrid he knew wasn't like that. Harry thought that for a few seconds Ginny too looked up at him with a slight alarm on her face but he guessed that he had imagined it as a few moments later Ginny's expression was back to neutral.

A few minutes later Harry could hear Fang's excited barks as Hagrid's hut came into view. About five seconds later, the door was slammed open and Hagrid came out and began literally running towards Harry and then picked him up and gave him a literally bone-breaking hug and started saying 'thank ye' over and over again while clearly crying. Harry meanwhile was finding it a bit hard to breathe.

"H—Hagrid air—breathing." Harry managed to croak out and almost immediately Hagrid let him out of his literal giant bear-hug.

"I owe yer a lot, Harry. You cleared me name and Dumbledore says that I would soon be 'ble to get a wand. I really owe it ter ye." Hagrid said, his beetle black eyes glistening with tears.

Harry could only smile at Hagrid's enthusiasm. "It's all right Hagrid. It was the least that I could do. You are after all my first friend and were my first contact with the magical world." Harry said making Hagrid tear-up even further. Harry saw Ginny squirming in a bit of discomfort behind him and decided to 'hopefully' lay to rest Ginny's fears once for all. "Hagrid, you have met Ginny Weasley haven't you?"

Hagrid looked at her and paused for a few moments before replying. "Yes, I do." He began softly. "I heard what happened with yer and it is mighty unfair and awful. Dumbledore told me everything Ginny and let me tell you I don't and can't blame yer for anything. Tom Riddle was a sick and evil lad and a mighty smooth-talker. He had old Dippet fooled too. If it weren't for Dumbledore I………" Hagrid let that hanging.

Ginny looked a bit assured but Harry could literally feel doubts still swirling in her head. "I—I you killed your roosters Hagrid." She said after a few moments.

"Naah yer didn't. Riddle forced yer into doing that. Only a fool will blame yer for any of that." Hagrid said and Harry could almost feel Ginny's mood improve and the cloud of guilt finally starting to blow over. It would take sometime for it to blow over completely but, it was a beginning and a good beginning at that.

After having a cup of tea with Hagrid and politely refusing his rock-cakes, Harry decided to take Ginny to meet Argentum. Hell, it had been many months since he had himself seen him. Hagrid told Harry that Argentum didn't stay in the paddock anymore but did come to visit pretty frequently; of course with Hagrid away for the last month and a half too no-one really had any idea about Argentum. But Harry somehow knew that Argentum would be there when he went out to meet him. And sure enough the moment Harry stepped out with Ginny a flash of silver could be seen at the edge of the forest and a moment later Argentum regally stepped out and started trotting towards them.

To Harry surprise and Ginny's absolute delight Argentum didn't mind Ginny petting him at all and in fact nuzzled her before moving on towards Harry. Harry could almost feel Ginny's absolute joy at being so close to and being accepted by such a beautiful, ethereal and pure being. On the way back they took a bit of detour to the castle as they comfortably talked about a few general things, such as Quidditch and Mrs. Weasley's 'Weasley-jumpers'. Harry and Ginny finally returned to the infirmary just a few minutes before curfew to be greeted by an anxious Mrs. Weasley but a surprisingly calm Madame Pomfrey. But Mrs. Weasley calmed down and even looked happy after spotting the smile playing on Ginny's face.

As Mrs. Weasley led Ginny towards her bed, Madame Pomfrey insisted on checking him over which Harry found rather odd as she had checked him over barely four hours ago. "Err Mam but didn't you check me over a few hours ago?" Harry asked as Madame Pomfrey began poking him.

"If you weren't such a difficult patient Potter, I would have you shackled to a bed for an entire week. What do you prefer?" She asked curtly. Harry nodded in reply but he didn't quite believe that. A couple of minutes later Mrs. Weasley came into the office again with quite a big smile on her face.

"I don't know what you told her or what you two did in the evening but, Thank You so very much for that Harry. She is smiling and her eyes have gained a bit of life again. I can't tell you how much it means to me and Arthur to see her smiling again, Harry. We are truly indebted to…….." Harry interrupted before Mrs. Weasley completed the 'indebted' to you speech.

"Don't, Mrs. Weasley please don't. I—I feel very much responsible for putting her through everything. Dobby had warned me about the chamber last summer but I ignored it thinking it to be some kind of a joke. I didn't owe up to a couple of things because I was afraid that I would be thrown out of the school. I……" This time Mrs. Weasley interrupted Harry's rant.

"Bill told me all about it and believe me nobody can blame you for it Harry, no one can. Even if you hadn't managed to get my Ginny out of there I wouldn't have and could not have blamed you. So stop blaming yourself." Mrs. Weasley said kindly, yet firmly. She then pulled Harry into another loving motherly-hug.

Harry spent the remaining four weeks of the term catching up with the whole lot of work that he had missed during his almost five months long coma. He was quite glad that the exams had been waived off for the lower years as he was sure that he would have performed quite badly in at least the theory exams of all the subjects. On his very first Potions class, Snape had riddled him with 16-essays with the ultimatum of the Leaving Feast to complete them. Harry had of course polished off and submitted all those essays to Snape in exactly 72-hours after he had assigned them earning him a standing ovation from the Gryffindors in the common-room that evening. Of course Snape had tried to accuse Harry of cheating but as everyone knew the fact that Harry's Potions' essays were always bigger than even those of Hermione; none the Gryffindors had been able to hold back their snorts right in front of Snape.

Peeves had welcomed back 'Scarhead' with great enthusiasm. He had been even more pleased at the fact that Harry had managed to discover the chamber of secrets. Peeves also told Harry that all the ghosts were indebted to him as well. It seemed that Hogwarts drew it's magic from all the magic that the students performed in her. If the school had indeed shut down, slowly but surely the magic of Hogwarts would have drained away. Harry already knew about that as he, Ron and Hermione had been given an enthralling lecture about it by Chucky when they visited her for the first time. Harry felt overawed and almost frightened by all the 'debts' of gratitude that so many people and indeed entities seemed to owe him.

Ginny looked outwardly happy but Harry didn't think that she was completely over it. He could almost sense her twinges of guilt everytime he looked at her. Ginny had barely talked with Harry after their visit to Argentum; Harry attested that to the enormous amounts of work that both he and she needed to overcome. It seemed that having Riddle possess you wasn't great for your academics. She had sat with the trio a number of times at meals but they had simply joked around about topics such as school, Snape and enjoyed Ron and Hermione's pointless and illogical arguments many of the times. He knew that he needed to talk to her and talk real in-depth with her. So the day before the 'Leaving Feast' he caught hold of just as she was leaving the common-room for dinner.

"Ginny!" He called out. "Would you mind coming with me? I need want to show you something." Ginny nodded so Harry led her towards the centaur and into the spiral staircase.

"Where are we going?" Ginny asked with slight nervous edge to her voice as the stone panel shut behind them, leaving them in momentary darkness before Harry lit his wand.

Harry almost kicked himself. "This staircase leads to the kitchens." Harry said as he began explaining the mechanics of the stone-slide and the secret knobs at the feet of the various animals on various floors. Harry had a feeling that Ginny wasn't completely listening to his explanation and she had a lot on her mind. Finally when they were about half-way to the kitchens Ginny abruptly stopped.

"Why are you doing this, Harry?" She asked after a moment.

Harry didn't reply immediately. He knew exactly why he was trying his level best to ensure that Ginny became normal again. He really, deeply loved her. He had pretty much established that fact in the first week of the first year. But he couldn't possibly just tell her that. "I—I care for you a lot Ginny….."

"Why do you care for me so much?" Ginny fired back. Harry almost smiled at the irony, he was the one who wanted to ask her a few things instead she had seized the initiative and literally running the show now. Well the fiery spirit that Ron had mentioned seemed to be coming back now.

"Do I need a reason to care about a friend?" Harry paused before continuing. "You do consider me to be your friend don't you?"

Ginny nodded after a moment and she seemed to weigh her words before continuing. "You are not doing all this only because you feel responsible for everything that happened do you? You aren't trying to be m—my friend out of pity, are you?"

Harry sighed silently. "I won't lie to you Ginny. I do rather did feel responsible a lot for what happened to you. But your mother cleared that out ages ago. I have been trying to talk to you and be friends with you for ages. It was you who used to blush tomato-red and run away." Harry paused for a moment before continuing. "Do you really think that I want to be your friend only out of pity, Ginny?"

Ginny sniffed for a moment or two but then reached forward and tightly hugged Harry. "I never have had friends who haven't been my brothers. So, it is……" 

"It's all-right Ginny you don't have to explain." Harry interrupted her. "No c'mon lets go to the kitchens, I am starving and I also want to introduce you to Chucky." Harry said as he led Ginny towards the kitchens. When Harry introduced Ginny to Chucky, Chucky behaved a bit peculiarly. She stared at Ginny for a full two seconds and then stared at Harry for a full two seconds and then she was stared at both of them together for full two seconds. After that she immediately went back to her usual demeanour and Harry put the peculiar behaviour behind him. They had a fine time while having dinner as Harry regaled a couple of the trio's tales from the first year and told Ginny about Peeves.

Ginny seemed to be having a very good time, better than she had for a long time so Harry didn't have the heart to discuss what he had originally set out to talk about. But he could somehow still sense that Ginny's happiness was almost as if being held back by something. He guessed that that discussion would have to be sometime later, probably in the summer.

The Leaving Feast was absolutely brilliant as far as Harry was concerned. Since Professor Dumbledore had awarded him 300-points for saving the school from 'certain-closure' the house Cup was in Gryffindor's clutches pretty easily and the Great Hall had been decked out in the scarlet and gold of Gryffindor. The feast as with every Hogwarts feast was simply brilliant and Harry ate a lot but of course he could hardly hold a candle to the twins and Ron. Then before they knew the trunks were packed, the dorms were empty, the pets were back in their cages (on shoulders in Hedwig's case) and everyone found themselves in the Hogwarts' Express heading back to King's Cross.

Harry, Hermione and the rest of the Weasleys sans Percy shared a compartment. The twins of course had fooled around for the first part of the journey before returning to the compartment for a raucous game of 'exploding snap.' Harry couldn't help but get a bit depressed as King's Cross appeared closer and closer.

"C'mon cheer-up mate. You will be there only for what only a month." Ron said and Harry gave him a small smile. He wasn't particularly looking forward to even a month long stay with the Dursleys, but he didn't say so. He did however spot Ginny eyeing him a bit sadly after that. As they reached King's Cross Harry gave the telephone number of number 4 to Ron and Hermione and Hermione gave her number to Ron and Harry. Harry thought that Ginny looked a bit hurt that he hadn't given the number to her, but he had an ace up his sleeve for her.

"Ginny, would you mind taking care of Hedwig for me in the summer? Uncle Vernon doesn't like her very much and I don't want her cooped-up like last year either." Harry asked looking at Ginny. Ginny nodded with a big smile on her face.

"You wouldn't mind doing that would you, girl?" Harry asked Hedwig, who hooted softly before hopping onto Ginny's shoulder and softly nipping her ears.

"So send me letter too, Ginny. I will be waiting for them." Harry said as they walked out of the compartment.

"I will Harry. I promise." She replied sincerely.

"Your aunt and uncle will be proud, though, won't they?" Hermione asked as they got off the train and joined the crowd thronging towards the enchanted barrier. "When they hear what you did this year?"

"Proud?" said Harry. "Are you crazy? All those times I could've died, and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious..." Harry replied, making Ginny laugh and raise her eyebrows at the same time. But Harry ignored the eye-brows and concentrated on the laugh. That laugh would serve him well for the duration of his stay with the Dursleys.

**A/N**: As I had promised, Harry and Ginny will get close, very close from now on. Well thanks to all the reviewers, you guys keep me going.


	17. Summer Dialogues

**A/N:** Well, here's year three. I have borrowed the soul-bond idea from Intromit; it is not my original idea. Hope you guys like it. Please keep the reviews coming, they keep me going.

Harry groaned as the hot noon sun beat down on his back, as he worked about in the garden at number 4, Privet Drive. The weather was quite warm throughout the day but it certainly was quite hot at noon and his aunt had somehow managed to remember exactly at 12:30 pm that the weeds needed to be pulled out of the garden. He had been back from Hogwarts for barely ten days and already the Dursleys seemed to hate him more than ever. Harry had a feeling that they felt cheated that he had woken-up from a four month long coma when almost everyone seemed to have predicted otherwise.

Harry cursed loudly as he tried to apply even more force to pull out a weed that refused to come out. His temper was also not helped by the lack of quality sleep. He was having dreams at night. Dreams or nightmares he couldn't quite tell as everything was all foggy and vague. He could hardly 'see' what was going on in the dream and everytime he concentrated on it, he ended up being woken-up from sleep. When sleep claimed him again after sometime, the dream would be there again. Almost as if enticing him to concentrate and disturb his sleep again.

Uncle Vernon had been quite furious not to see Hedwig along with Harry at the station. Harry was sure that he derived some kind of sadistic pleasure by locking away Hedwig. Of course this meant that uncle Vernon would have almost certainly tried to put his trunk under the lock and key pretty fast. But Harry, in a manner which would have pleased Salazar Slytherin himself had cut out a deal with uncle Vernon. Harry promised that no letter-bearing owls would come to number 4 if he was allowed to keep his trunk for the duration of the summer and one single phone-call. After much thinking Uncle Vernon consented and the moment, Harry had reached the house; he called up Hermione and left her a message requesting her to inform Ginny and Ron to send him a message only if it was an absolute emergency.

Harry's 'rations' were measly as usual, but this time Harry was prepared. He still had about 80-pounds left. Those would fetch him a burger, some chips and a soda for at-least a month if not more. After the first two days of working under the sun Harry had realized that his stamina had certainly diminished after the four months of coma. So Harry started getting up early in the morning and started going for a jog around Little Whining. He hadn't exactly managed to burn the pavement to start off with, but he was steadily increasing the distance and also the speed.

Harry had managed to keep his trunk, this time and hence managed to complete the non-Potions part of the summer-homework in exactly 7-days. He worked on Snape's essay about Shrinking Potions for whole three more days and had went through 6-drafts and 4 soft copies before finalizing it and at the end of it, he was pretty sure that Snape wouldn't be able to find a single mistake in it. But only a week into the vacation he was wondering whether it was really worth it.

He missed Ginny. He couldn't talk with her or see her; letters or even a letter would have been really nice. Also he wasn't so sure that Ginny was coping up with everything. After being discharged from the infirmary, she barely had any time to think over all the happenings of the year. But now that she had loads of time on her hands, she could brood over it for extended periods of time. Harry wondered as to how in hell was he managing to somehow guess these things about Ginny, but he couldn't come up with any answer. Harry also found it very strange but he could almost feel that Ginny was putting on a show of coping up with all that happened with the diary. She was happy on the outside but on the inside she was all torn-up with guilt. Cursing the Dursleys for the lack of letters Harry pulled out the last weed and went into the house for a nice cold shower.

That night the dream was back. Only this time it wasn't as foggy as it was before. Harry could make out a few of the details. Even without the fog, it was very dark. The place looked like a dungeon. Harry felt that he had been to this place before. That was strange he thought. The only dark, high and long dungeon like place he had been in was the Chamber of Secrets. 'OH SHIT' he thought as he tried to concentrate a bit more and the moment he tried that, the dream disappeared and Harry found himself staring at the ceiling of his bedroom in number 4.

It was a dream about the chamber of secrets. Why in the hell was he having dreams about the Chamber of Secrets? Was the chamber of secrets a traumatic experience for him? Sure, he had almost died there, but he hadn't had a single nightmare until now. Almost 45 days had passed since those two hours in the chamber. Why would the nightmares begin suddenly out of nowhere? And where they even nightmares or were they simply dreams? And what kind of nightmares or dreams were they? He could barely make out anything about them until today and he was pretty sure that he had been having them for at least a week now. Harry couldn't make heads or tails of the situation. Cursing he tried to go back to sleep.

But sleep seemed to have deserted him for the remaining part of the night. Finally he got up and decided to head for his jog. Harry was rather irritated that day. Everyday Harry felt energized and fresh after the jog, but not today. He was feeling really, really irritated and he also had a bit of a headache. Harry put that down to the lack of sleep but still he couldn't help but feel that he was irritated a bit too much, almost as if something else too was adding to his irritation and indeed frustration.

That night Harry spent a lot of time simply staring at the ceiling before sleep finally consumed him. The dream was back and the fog was non-existent this time. It was bright and clear, well as bright and clear as a chamber thousands of feet underground could be. This time Harry didn't have to concentrate it was the Chamber of Secrets all-right. He was right at the entrance of the chamber lined with the ceiling-high pillars. Harry couldn't quite see the statue of Slytherin which he knew was at the other end of the chamber. He dared not squint. He didn't want to wake up. One thing was clear this was neither an ordinary dream nor a ordinary scary nightmare. Harry took a deep breath and started walking towards the statue.

As he started walking his heart was beating really fast. He couldn't quite comprehend what exactly was going on. For a moment he wondered, if this was some kind of a trick that Riddle or Voldemort was playing on him, but he knew that that was a very remote possibility. Riddle was most certainly exorcised from the diary and Voldemort's spirit was god knows where. After a couple of minutes he reached the area where the prone body of Ginny should have lain. Harry was shocked at what he saw. Only there was no body there, instead Riddle looked completely solid and he was levitating two bodies high into the air and dropping them back onto the ground and then laughing out loudly. He was further shocked when he realized that the second body was actually him. He tried to concentrate on it and he thought that he heard soft sobbing in the background and a moment later, he was staring at the ceiling of number 4 again.

"SHIT! Bloody Hell!" Harry cursed out loudly as he got out of the bed to have a glass of water. Was that a nightmare or not? It certainly looked like one, but it didn't feel like a nightmare at all. It was almost as if he was watching somebody else's nightmare. Harry almost laughed out aloud at that. 'Having someone else's nightmare', that almost beat the crazy idea of 'flying' underwater. Noticing that it almost was 6:30am, Harry got into his overlarge shorts and set out for his jog.

Harry spent the rest of the day on auto-pilot. He had tried taking in a nap in the afternoon but hadn't dreamed then. Also that meant that he was a bit behind on his chores, which in turn meant that his dinner-rations were practically non-existent. But Harry didn't mind that, hell he barely noticed that. He was more interested in going to sleep and getting to the bottom of the nightmare drama, if you might.

The nightmare was back. Only this time he was directly in front of Riddle as he levitated and dropped and then levitated his and Ginny's bodies again and again. Harry took a deep breath; he needed to know what exactly was going on. He had to be careful not to concentrate. That was sure to wake him up as he had experienced more than a few times till now. He heard that sniffing again. He was sure that the sniffing wasn't coming from the bodies or Riddle, so there had to be someone else right there.

Harry tried to concentrate on the noise; it was coming from behind him. Trying to ignore mutilation of the bodies' under-progress, Harry slowly turned around. He had a pretty good idea whom he might see, after all there was only one more person who had ever entered the chamber, but he gasped in surprise anyways. It was Ginny; she was sprawled on the floor and crying literally in copious amounts.

"GINNY!" Harry cried out as he hurried towards her and picked her up in his arms and hugged her. For a moment Harry wondered whether what he was doing was completely foolish but for some reason, it felt just right. For a moment Ginny stopped crying and then recoiled and pushed Harry away.

"Who—what are you?" She asked literally trembling a bit in fear. Harry was taken aback. He was sure that his looks hadn't changed in two weeks. Then he suddenly realized that it was Ginny who was having the actual nightmare and he was somehow watching it from a third person's point of view. That is why, the nightmare never felt like a nightmare to him.

"Ginny, I swear I am Harry." Harry said softly. Ginny was still crying but the tears weren't flowing as freely anymore.

"No, you are not. Riddle is making this up. This is a nightmare. Get away from me." Ginny screamed out the last part with some degree of viciousness and this time Harry recoiled. It hurt. It hurt that Ginny refused to believe him. But then he shook himself. If there ever was a skeptically incredulous situation, this was it.

"Okay Ginny please stop crying. This is a nightmare. I don't know how but somehow I am a part of it too." Harry started saying. Ginny was sniffing now and staring at Harry. But the look on Ginny's face was that of disbelief. She clearly still did not believe that. Harry was actually Harry. Harry sighed, wasn't there a single thing in his life which was simple. "Ginny I don't know how to make you believe that I am indeed Harry, but trust me I am the real Harry."

Ginny stared at him for a moment. "No you are not. This is a nightmare that I have. How can the real Harry be having the same nightmare too?" Ginny said as she took another step away from him.

Harry sighed. "Okay listen to me, Hedwig is still with you right? Wake up and send her to me right now. I will reply back saying that I have the same nightmare or rather the same 'dream' too. Okay?"

Ginny did not reply immediately. She was staring at Riddle. It was like the nightmare had been paused. Riddle's wand was pointed upwards towards the bodies in the air, but he was not making them move up and down anymore. The two bodies were dead-still in the air. After almost a minute Ginny spoke again in a very soft voice.

"All-right." She replied and paused again. "But I won't send any letter with him or anything. Okay?" She asked.

"No problems Ginny. Just send her over and please ask her to wait by the woods in the park and not come to the house. Okay?" Harry asked. Ginny simply nodded. Harry realized that she must have been really overwhelmed by all of it. "Okay now how do you, get out of the nightmare?" Harry asked.

"I—I don't know. It has always played on till the end and then I wake up and it is early morning." Ginny replied somberly. Harry had a feeling that she was starting to trust him now and he felt a real better.

"Well, I always try and concentrate on something and the dream or nightmare or whatever goes away." Harry replied. Why don't you try that?" He suggested.

Surprisingly Ginny nodded and a few seconds later Harry was staring at the ceiling of Number 4. Harry ran really wild that day. He ran for two hours straight. It was a vent to his frustrations. He couldn't believe it. In all probability Ginny was having nightmares night after night and he had a feeling that nobody at the Burrow knew about it. It must be terrible for Ginny. A voice at the back of his head was saying that perhaps it was only a dream and Hedwig wouldn't turn-up. But Harry knew better. His instincts told him that it was real and he trusted his instincts. Even as he thought of Ginny, he could almost imagine her being anxious, nervous and also almost miserable. Then there was the question was how in the world he was involved in those nightmares? How was he watching the nightmare? It was almost as if they were sharing the interviews, how was that possible? It was a big-big-big mess.

The day's chores couldn't end any quicker. By the time Harry finished all the chores and was free to move about, it was almost 2'O clock. Without wasting a moment Harry ran towards the park, a piece of parchment and a pen that he had nicked from Dudley in his hand. He reached the park and went towards the woods and started looking around but he couldn't spot Hedwig. Irritated at the bit of an anti-climax, Harry laid down on the grass and found himself drifting off to sleep within no time. Sometime later Harry was woken up by a soft hoot and a gentle nip on his ears and he knew that Hedwig was there, so the dream was after-all true and he wasn't going mad after-all.

"Hey girl, how have you been?" Harry said as he gently petted her feathers. "You enjoy being at the Burrow?" Hedwig hooted softly in reply and Harry couldn't agree more with her. It was damn brilliant at the Burrow. "Okay girl I have got this letter here for Ginny, but don't give it to her in front of everyone. Take it directly to her bedroom and if possible please try and reach the burrow before she goes to sleep. Okay?" Harry asked with a bit of desperation in his voice. Hedwig must have sensed it, as she gently nipped his ears almost as an assurance and then flew off immediately. Harry hoped that they would reach the bottom of the nightmare-sharing business tonight at least.

That Harry did not sleep for a long time. He was feeling afraid, but for some reason it was as if someone else's fear was feeding his apprehension. Then it clicked, he was sensing and reacting to Ginny's feelings and emotions. Great he thought, as if the whole picture wasn't complicated already. Finally he fell asleep at about 11'O clock. The last thought that lingered in his mind was that hopefully, Hedwig had indeed reached Ginny before she went off to sleep.

Harry was back in the chamber and but only this time he found himself staring straight into the teary coffee-brown eyes of Ginny Weasley. He stared at her for a few moments and Ginny stared back and then she broke down and started crying. Harry did not waste anytime, in three steps he was next to Ginny and then he pulled her into a hug. Ginny didn't respond for well over ten seconds and just as Harry starting to worry, she finally relaxed in his arms and hugged him back, but she couldn't help crying. She really seemed upset and Harry could almost somehow feel waves of distress and grief flow from her. After ten minutes, she still hadn't stopped crying and Harry didn't want to say anything as he had a feeling that they were indeed fifteen days worth of unshed tears.

Finally after a quarter of an hour she seemed to slow down. Harry didn't really want to question her about the nightmare and indeed her frame of mind when she was awake, but he knew that he had to do it, if he were to help her. But Ginny beat him to the draw.

"W—What is happening Harry?" She asked between sobs.

"Hey, that was supposed to be my opener." Harry replied softly. Harry could almost feel Ginny smile a bit even though her face was still buried in his shoulder. "You tell me Ginny. This is your nightmare. You are having the nightmare and suffering due to it. I am merely an observer here."

Ginny didn't reply at all. Harry waited for an entire minute before continuing in as soft and as gentle a tone that he could muster without sounding artificial. "Ginny, you have to answer. C'mon talk about it because I don't think that you are talking about it with anyone else. Please talk to me, please."

Again Ginny did not reply but Harry could feel that she was almost on the verge of replying. "I have been having the nightmare everyday Harry. Every single day since you saved me from the chamber." Ginny replied in a defeated, sorrowful voice which made Harry's heart bleed.

"Why didn't you tell me? Or anybody for that matter Ginny?" Harry asked as he involuntarily hugged her even more tightly.

"I—I didn't want to be a trouble to anyone." Ginny replied almost inaudibly, but Harry caught it.

"What made you think that you are a trouble to me Ginny?" Harry asked quietly.

Ginny did not reply at once. "C'mon Harry you hardly know me. We had barely talked before the chamber. You……" But Harry did not allow her to complete the 'reasons'.

"You are wrong Ginny. In fact you couldn't be more wrong. I absolutely care about you and don't you dare forget that." Harry replied.

Ginny pulled away from Harry and stared at him. "Why? Why do you care about me so much?"

"I don't need a reason." Was all, that Harry replied as Ginny kept on staring at him. "But, the reason we are here is because you have a nightmare. We need to talk about that."

"There is nothing to talk about, Harry. I have nightmares every night and I guess that eventually, they will go away." Ginny replied a bit discouraged.

"Problems rarely simply go away just like that Ginny." Harry replied as Ginny stared at him again.

"How did you become so smart?" She asked with a tiny bit of cheekiness creeping into her voice.

Harry's heart leaped at that question, rather the tone of the question. But he didn't really want to lose focus here. He was going to get to the bottom of the nightmare-nightmare. "I have always been smart, I think. Now, let us talk about your nightmare."

"I—I don't know what there is to talk, Harry." Ginny began dejectedly. "I go to sleep every night and experience this nightmare. Sometimes, Riddle kills you and then taunts me, telling me that I am responsible for it or sometimes he kills both of us and then plays with the dead bodies and I can't help but watch it." Ginny ended with a sob as Harry hugged her again. Hugging her always felt so right and Harry needed to shake himself out of those thoughts.

"Why do you think that you have those nightmares Gin?" Harry asked. He barely realized that he had called her 'Gin' as he waited for her answer.

"I have no idea." Was Ginny's short answer. Harry had a feeling that he knew exactly why Ginny had those nightmares and he decided to try out his theory.

"Who was responsible for the opening of the Chamber of Secrets Ginny?" Harry asked.

"I was." Pat came Ginny's reply.

Harry looked deep into her moist eyes and almost lost himself in them before he got his emotions under control and replied. "I guess that answers the question about 'why' you have the nightmares."

Ginny didn't reply immediately but only stared at Harry then at the ground then at Harry again. "But I was." She replied in a very soft voice.

"NO GINNY!" Harry almost screamed out. "You were not responsible for it. Why—Why do you hold yourself responsible for it when even Professor Dumbledore does not hold you responsible for it?" Harry asked a bit frustrated now.

Ginny took her time answering it and Harry was absolutely not going to hurry her on. "Somewhere at the back of mind I always knew that the diary wasn't exactly good. But I didn't do anything about it. Dad always used to tell us not to trust an 'intelligent' item whose brain we couldn't see. I should have shown the diary to him and this thing would never have happened. But I didn't because……it was—it was like having a friend in my pocket. Tom listened to me so patiently and replied to me. My brothers made fun of me but Tom never did that, he had become my best friend. I could tell him about anything and he would reply back patiently and without fail, I trusted him. I finally stopped trusting him just before Christmas and I—I got rid of the diary just before Christmas vacation began too. But—But then I heard you and Ron talking about catching the heir and I got frightened. So I retrieved the diary from the toilet again." Ginny paused for a few moments but Harry did not say anything. He felt that Ginny wanted to say something more. "Then I don't know how but I remember trying to kill you, but I didn't do anything about it for four months……actually ever. I was weak and I couldn't fight him off or simply be courageous enough to go to someone and tell them I was responsible for it."

Ginny stopped speaking and started sobbing again. Harry didn't say anything but for the nth time pulled her into a warm hug and let her cry onto his shoulder as he decided the best way to console her and somehow make her believe that she was NOT responsible for the fiasco.

"Your only mistake was writing in a diary, Ginny. Nothing else." Harry began confidently and in a tone which he hoped was firm. "You know I blamed myself for your sufferings too." Ginny snapped up her head on hearing that. "But Bill set me straight. As he told me, the mistakes of 12 and 11 years old fetch them detentions. Our mistakes, in an ideal world are not supposed to cost someone their lives. You were cruelly manipulated Ginny, very cruelly and brutally manipulated by Voldemort. It is okay to be afraid, Ginny. I was afraid that I would be kicked out so I held back more than a few things too. If I hadn't who knows maybe, this thing could have been stopped right in October. You are an innocent victim here Ginny not the perpetrator. That would be Tom Riddle. And you were not able to fight him because you were not supposed to. But you did held him back, nearly for an entire year before he finally got hold of you completely. Please don't blame yourself Ginny because that is what Riddle would have wanted you to do. Sort of a parting shot, even if his diary is destroyed his effect is still felt all around. Please Ginny, I implore you not to blame yourself and move ahead. Riddle wins if you still blame yourself." Harry finished passionately and looked intently at Ginny.

For a few seconds Ginny showed no reaction at all and Harry actually began wondering whether he had simply said all that silently. But then suddenly Ginny threw herself at him and hugged him tightly. For a few moments Harry wondered whether it was Ginny or Mrs. Weasley hugging him.

"Thanks Harry." Ginny said and Harry could almost feel her elation and suddenly Harry found his surroundings melting away and then he was staring at the by now familiar ceiling of Number 4 again. Harry yawned as he rolled over and tried to take a look at the dial of Hermione's watch which he had nicked at the end of the last year. Harry looked at the dial and rubbed his eyes in surprise to confirm again. It was 10:30am! Harry groaned as he started putting on clothes. That conversation with Ginny must have been really long. As he was getting dressed, he felt very different. It was almost as if he was complete now. He had a sense of fulfillment. Wondering where all that had come from he went down ready to tune himself out of the firing that he was bound to get.

That night, Harry skipped dinner and headed to bed. For some reason he was feeling quite sleepy rather early into the evening. As he lay down on his bed, Harry wondered if Ginny was going to have that nightmare again. He sort of hoped that she would at least have a dream and he would be pulled into it. They still had to discuss this thing about him walking into her dream. That was pretty weird even though it probably helped Ginny get over her guilt. As he wondered about Ginny and thought what she might be doing, he suddenly caught flashes of conversation. He jumped-up in surprise and looked around wondering if someone had sneaked into his room. But there was no-one in his room and the 'noise' rather than the conversation had stopped too.

He went back to thinking about Ginny and wondering where exactly was he with the girl that he knew he loved. How or why he simply couldn't explain, but he loved her for sure. And suddenly the flashes of conversation started again. This time he concentrated on them instead of being jumping-up in surprise. And a few seconds later, he started hearing complete sentences. He had barely processed the first sentence when he jumped up in surprise; that was Mrs. Weasley's voice. He was somehow listening to the dinner-time conversation at the Burrow.

"_Ginny is that really you."_ On a whim he spoke out in his mind almost wishing her to hear what he was 'saying'. Almost immediately he heard Ginny scream and the sound of something large made probably made of glass falling down and shattering loudly. Harry almost kicked himself. She had been possessed barely a month ago and almost died due to it and now she had heard voices in her head, no wonder she had freaked out. Anyone would have.

But unbelievably Ginny apparently did not panic and Harry heard her assure her family that everything was all-right and she had just jumped up as she thought that she had felt something brush against her legs. Harry couldn't help but marvel at her 'lying' abilities. She apparently continued with dinner as Harry heard the talk around the table resume again and then after a few minutes he heard Ginny excuse herself and get-up from the table. Harry was really concentrating on Ginny now and he heard her steps on the stairs of the burrow and then he heard the door to her room being shut. Harry somehow also could feel a bit of anxiety and nervousness that wasn't really his. It was almost as if it was Ginny's anxiety and nervousness and perhaps excitement.

Suddenly out of nowhere he heard his name being called out. "_Harry did I really hear you?"_

Harry's heart jumped up with a range of emotions. "_Yes, I am."_

"_Please tell me that I am not imagining this." _Came, Ginny's reply.

"I guess that there is only one way to sort that out." Harry replied.

"_Hedwig?"_ Ginny tentatively asked.

"_Yeah, who else." _Harry replied back as he heard Ginny open her window, talk to Hedwig and then close the window.

"_Harry?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Err...would you mind if you—we don't err talk anymore tonight?"_ Ginny asked. _"This is kind of freaking me out."_

"_Oh……"_ Harry replied a bit dejectedly. Ginny seemed to have picked up his dejected tone as she immediately sought to re-assure him.

"_No Harry it's not freaking me out like that, it's just that…I was to be sure that it is you."_ Ginny paused and Harry felt himself perk up a bit. _"Err…Harry are we all-right?"_

"_Yeah Ginny. I understand perfectly. This is freaking me out a bit too. I mean…… Well, anyways we will hopefully be able to talk again after Hedwig shows up and I send you a letter. Okay?"_ Harry asked.

"_Yeah, okay. Goodnight Harry." _Ginny softly replied and Harry tried to concentrate on moon out in the sky and he actually felt as if a door or perhaps a window was being closed and then he couldn't hear the wind blowing around the Burrow before.

The next morning Harry was up at 5:30am. It seemed that with every passing day, he could get up more easily and he didn't need Dudley's broken alarm clock anymore. As Harry set off for his jog and set off towards the Park, he hoped that Hedwig would be there. There was a piece of paper with 'It is me' written on it. He climbed over the park-walls and entered the woods and sure enough a few moments later, Hedwig flitted down from a tree and settled on his shoulders with a soft hoot.

"Hey girl, these are some interesting things that are happening to me—us, aren't they?" Harry asked and as usual Hedwig replied with a hoot that could only mean agreement. Harry smiled; Hedwig really was a damn smart owl. "Well, girl here's the note. Take it directly to Ginny. Thanks girl." Harry said as Hedwig gently nipped his ears and took off into the air.

The next few days were very, very interesting and indeed fascinating for both Harry and Ginny. They talked literally for hours on end. They talked about everything. They talked about Quidditch and second year lessons and of course Snape. Harry told her about the situation with his godparents and guardians than quite an abridged version of his life at the Dursleys. Slowly but surely Harry knew that they had formed a bond that went deeper, way deeper than mere friendship. What Harry still hadn't figured out was, why and how exactly could they manage to talk 'mentally' like this. Ginny had told him that she most probably knew the answer but she didn't want to tell him it through the link. She wanted to have that discussion 'face-to-face' and Harry agreed. They had however agreed that they would both keep it completely secret from everybody. That was saying a lot for Ginny as she had promised her parents that she wouldn't keep any secrets from her parents, especially after the Chamber-incident. As far as Harry was concerned it wasn't as if he had anyone to keep a secret from. About a week after they started having the mental conversations the two discovered that they could feel each others emotions if they concentrated really hard too. Due to that, Harry could confidently say that Ginny was most certainly over the Chamber incident. She was almost back to her jovial self.

As Harry learnt more and more about Ginny he couldn't help but admire the resilience of nature and how mentally strong she was and at the same time she was fun-loving, caring and understanding. Also on her day she could even give the twins a run for their money as far as pranking went. Her moods were infectious, well her laughter certainly was and many times Harry couldn't help but smile when he felt her being happy and heard her laughter. It was unadulterated and literally pure if you might. At the same time she did have quite a temper and a feisty one at that, which made even the twins cringe when at full tilt. Harry supposed that she got that trait straight from her mother. Ginny had a deep mistrust of authority and rules. Harry was surprised to learn one night that she went was flying and Hermione's watch said that it was ten minutes to twelve. It was then that Ginny swore Harry to secrecy and confessed that she had been teaching herself to fly for over three years now. Only she did it at the dead of the night as her 'over-protective' brothers absolutely refused to let her anyway near a broom. As the days passed Ginny became much more than his best friend. In short she was one hell of a person and more the Harry thought about her unbelievably the more he fell in love with her.

About a week before his birthday as Harry was having breakfast he felt a huge surge of positive cheerful emotions from Ginny and he guessed that he something really nice must be happening. He concentrated on Ginny and gave what the two had dubbed as a 'mental' nudge.

"_Wait for five minutes, Harry! I'll get back to you." _Ginny replied, glee apparent in her voice. Harry wondered what exactly had made her so happy, but after a couple of minutes he couldn't quite come-up with any reason. He went about polishing Uncle Vernon's car. As he was polishing the car he felt literally waves of anticipation, then a bit of frustration and then finally frustration come from Ginny. About twenty minutes later Ginny nudged him and Harry nudged her back. It was their sort of signal to ensure that they did not inadvertently disturb each other during something important.

"_Hey Ginny, what's got you all worked up. Especially after that huge burst of glee earlier."_ Harry asked.

"_Oh, dad won the Daily Prophet's Grand Galleon Draw." _Ginny replied surprisingly glumly. _"He won 700-galleons."_

Harry was rather surprised. The Weasleys weren't exactly very well-off and he expected Ginny to be much more excited. _"...And that is a problem because?"_

"_That is not the problem Harry." _Ginny replied in a slightly exasperated voice.

"_Them what is?" _Harry asked completely confused now.

"_All the Weasleys are going to Egypt to spend a month or so with Bill. I guess he is going to show us around Egypt and we are going to spend a few days on the Mediterranean." _Ginny replied in a tone that clearly said that she believed explained everything.

"_I am afraid I have completely lost you now Ginny." _Harry replied.

Ginny made a small irritated noise that Harry couldn't quite understand before she explained further. _"It's a wonder that a supposedly smart person like you cannot understand such simple things. Well when dad announced that 'we' are going to Egypt, the twins and Ron asked whether 'we' also included 'you'."_

"_Eh?"_ Harry replied a bit lamely. _"Me? Why would you guys want……?" _Harry began but Ginny interrupted him.

"_Really Harry, stop asking dumb questions. You spend the summer at the Burrow and we would be gone for an entire month. So obviously you would be stuck at the muggles who, I am pretty sure, don't treat you well at all, inspite of whatever sugar-coated things you tell me."_ Ginny replied.

"_Eh?" _Came Harry's intelligent reply. _"Whoa hold up. I have stayed at the Burrow only last summer. That is only once. Then I can't possibly intrude upon your family's trip, not to mention your money. And what do you mean by sugar-coated story?" _Harry asked.

Harry felt Ginny smile before she replied. _"C'mon Potter, I can tell that you were lying while telling me about the muggles. Then, it is not a secret that you hate the muggles and they hate you. Everyone simply expected you to be at the Burrow sometime during the summer. And don't even think about things like 'intruding' on and 'your money' and stuff. As a matter of fact dad told us that Bill had insisted on bringing you along too and needless to say mum was insistent too. I think she loves you, right now." _Ginny said with a bit of a giggle as she put on a Mrs. Weasley imitation. _"…oh such a young boy but such a mature boy…such a sweet boy…such a sweet brave boy…such a sweet brave polite boy…"_

Harry decided to interrupt Ginny as he had a feeling that she was enjoying it way too much. _"All-right I get the point and take back my words now would you please complete the story."_

Harry heard Ginny laugh out loud before continuing. _"Okay, well apparently dad knew that he had won the prize about a couple of days ago. They announced it in the paper today and dad had been planning for the last couple of days. Anyways after Bill and mum sort of insisted upon your presence too, dad sent an owl to Professor Dumbledore asking whether you could come along too. I guess there wasn't much point asking your relatives. But Professor Dumbledore said that you couldn't come. Dad didn't tell us the reason except that it had to do something with your security. Anyways turns out the twins had overheard a part of mum and dad's discussion last night. Turns out that you need to stay at your aunt's place for a certain amount of time every year to recharge the wands or something. So you can't go." _Ginny ended on a sad note.

As Harry thought over it he realized that he was right after-all, there were wards around Number 4, which apparently needed recharging. _"It's all-right Ginny. It's not like I will miss much, you can always give me a running commentary. Besides, I sort of had guessed the part of the wards as Hagrid had mentioned something about security or something. You don't worry over it or ruin your vacation, you enjoy it, okay?" _

Ginny didn't reply immediately. _"It's not all-right, Harry and you know it."_

"_Well, I am telling you it's perfectly all-right. It is essential for—err—for my security after all. So please—please don't spoil your trip over my absence. Enjoy it okay? You deserve it." _Harry replied.

"_You deserve it too, Harry." _Came Ginny's somber reply.

"_Yeah maybe. But just promise me that you will go and enjoy double the amount you should on my behalf. Okay, how 'bout it?" _Harry said giving it a last-shot but he could literally feel Ginny's resolve crumbling. She really did deserve a trip and he certainly wouldn't want her or all the Weasleys not to go just because of him.

"_All-right Harry, but you should talk with Professor Dumbledore, about these wards'? I mean it is stupid that you have to be stuck at the stupid muggles for 'security' when they hate you." _Ginny's mistrust of authority seemed to be at it's best. But Harry's heart really warmed when he realized that she was doing and saying all this only because she too cared about him.

The next couple of days were a whirlwind at the Weasleys and Harry could almost feel the excitement himself. Ginny had sent the copy of the Daily Prophet with Hedwig the next-day. There was a photo of the entire Weasley family including Scabbers and Errol against a 'fake' backdrop of the Pyramids. Harry and Ginny wondered whether they would be able to 'mentally talk' all the way across the continent, but Ginny seemed confident and as Harry knew that she knew something about their 'bond' if you might more than he did, he was confident too. Two days after the announcement in the Daily Prophet, the Weasleys were in Egypt and Ginny was correct. They could indeed talk inspite of the distance.

Harry was awake half an hour before midnight on the 30th of July. Ginny had told him that she, Ron and Bill had sent him gifts and he could expect them just around midnight. He was strangely excited about receiving the first birthday gifts from his friends. Sure enough almost at the stroke of midnight Harry spotted about four owls in the sky and one of them was Hedwig. Ron had sent him a birthday card and a sneakscope and Bill had sent him a compass which could be attached onto a broom. But the biggest surprise came from Hedwig's parcel which was actually from Hermione who Harry knew was in France. How Hedwig had found Hermione was quite beyond him but Hermione's gift blew that right out of his mind. She had given him a broomstick servicing kit. There also was an owl from Hogwarts with the list and the Hogsmeade form requiring a guardian's signature, he certainly needed to think over how he was going to get that from the signature from the Dursleys. There was also a gift from Hagrid but Harry decided not to open it as it growled when he touched it. Ginny had given him a silver pendant which Bill had apparently scavenged from a burial site. Harry immediately slipped that pendant into his neck. Harry slept most peacefully that day and for the first time in his life it felt like it was actually his birthday.

Harry went down to breakfast the next morning to find the three Dursleys already sitting around the kitchen table. They were watching a brand-new television, a welcome-home-for-the-summer present for Dudley, who had been complaining loudly about the long walk between the fridge and the television in the living room. Dudley had spent most of the summer in the kitchen, his piggy little eyes fixed on the screen and his five chins wobbling as he ate continually.

Harry sat down between Dudley and Uncle Vernon, a large, beefy man with very little neck and a lot of mustache. Far from wishing Harry a happy birthday, none of the Dursleys made any sign that they had noticed Harry enter the room, but Harry was far too used to this to care. He helped himself to a piece of toast and then looked up at the reporter on the television, who was halfway through a report on an escaped convict:

"... The public is warned that Sirius Black is armed and extremely dangerous. A special hot line has been set up, and any sighting of Black should be reported immediately."

"No need to tell us he's no good………." snorted Uncle Vernon, but Harry wasn't listening to him at all. He had frozen when he heard the name of the escaped convict. 'Sirius Black' his godfather had escaped. His mass-murdering godfather had escaped from prison. There had to be some kind of a mistake. Harry took another look at the photo that was being displayed on the screen. Black seemed to have long hair and a shaggy beard. Harry tried to commit the picture to his memory as it went away a moment later. A moment later Harry was streaking to his room to check out the photo-album that Hagrid had given him. He searched through the photos and spotted his parents' wedding picture. He recognized his father's best man. It was a younger and healthier version of the photo that had been shown on the television. Harry was literally in shock. He did the only thing that he could think of, he mentally nudged Ginny and a moment later she replied back.

"_Hey Harry, how……" _Ginny began but stopped as she probably felt the swirl of conflicting emotions. Confusion, anger, frustration, bewilderment and even a bit of panic. _"Harry? What is happening?" _She asked kindly.

Harry took a couple of deep breaths before replying. _"You—You remember about my godfather who is in Azkaban? Sirius Black?" _Harry asked.

"_Yes, what about him Harry?" _Ginny asked back.

"_I just saw his photo on the television. They said that he's escaped from a prison. They didn't mention any prison but they showed his photo on the TV. I checked out the photo that I have from my parents' wedding and he is the same guy. Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban!"_ Harry said with that swirl of emotions still going strong.

"_Are you sure that it is the very Sirius Black and not…?" _Ginny asked.

"_Yes Gin, I am perfectly sure about that. When muggle prisoners escape they always and always specify the place from where they have escaped. They didn't mention the place here. I guess it is rather difficult to tell all the non-magical people where Azkaban is." _ Harry replied back.

"_Okay Harry, I believe you. But……" _Ginny didn't complete the sentence as Harry felt a bit of apprehension creep into her mind.

"_What is it Ginny?" _Harry asked a bit of irritation slipping into his 'mental' voice.

Ginny took a few moments before replying. _"Nobody has ever escaped from Azkaban Harry, ever. And Azkaban has been there for something like five hundred years."_

Ginny's revelation hit Harry like a ton of bricks. He couldn't believe it. His godfather, his mass-murdering godfather had escaped a magical prison from which nobody had ever managed to escape. How was that possible? But before he could reply back to Ginny, he heard Uncle Vernon bellowing out 'BOY' in a rather unflattering manner and he knew that he had to go. _"Ginny, I have to go. My uncle is bellowing out for me. Can you somehow confirm this news from your dad or Bill or somehow?" _Harry asked.

"_I will Harry, just don't panic okay? There is no reason to believe that he will come after you or something. After-all he's been in Azkaban for god knows how many years; he's probably gone completely bonkers by now. And even if he does come after you there are wards around your house, wards that will protect you. Okay? So please don't worry." _Ginny replied and Harry mentally nudged her as he started climbing down the staircases.

Harry reached the last of the stairs to find his uncle all dressed up and with the car-keys in his hands. Uncle Vernon stared at Harry for a few seconds and Harry had a feeling that something big was coming up.

"Marge is coming to visit." Uncle Vernon proclaimed a bit nervously yet loudly and haughtily. Harry was glad that Uncle Vernon still believed that he could do magic during the summer vacation. That meant that Uncle Vernon treated him with a bit of respect. When uncle Vernon's revelation hit him he groaned out loudly. Aunt Marge was Uncle Vernon's sister. Even though she was not a blood relative of Harry's (whose mother had been Aunt Petunia's sister), he had been forced to call her "Aunt" all his life. Aunt Marge lived in the country, in a house with a large garden, where she bred bulldogs. She didn't often stay at Privet Drive, because she couldn't bear to leave her precious dogs, but each of her visits stood out horribly vividly in Harry's mind. Her every visit had been miserable for Harry as 'Ripper' her favourite dog had chased her and he couldn't do anything but run from him.

"Marge'll be here for a week," Uncle Vernon snarled, 11 and while we're on the subject" -- he pointed a fat finger threateningly at Harry -- "we need to get a few things straight before I go and collect her."

Dudley smirked and withdrew his gaze from the television. Watching Harry being bullied by Uncle Vernon was Dudley's favorite form of entertainment.

"Firstly," growled Uncle Vernon, "you'll keep a civil tongue in your head when you're talking to Marge."

"All right," said Harry bitterly, "if she does when she's talking to me.

"Secondly," said Uncle Vernon, acting as though he had not heard Harry's reply, "as Marge doesn't know anything about your abnormality, I don't want any -- any funny stuff while she's here. You behave yourself, got me?"

"I will if she does," said Harry through gritted teeth.

"And thirdly," said Uncle Vernon, his mean little eyes now slits in his great purple face; "You will stick to the story that you attend St. Brutus's Secure

Center for Incurably Criminal Boys."

Harry smiled inwardly. Unbelievably out of the literally messy morning, he was after-all going to profit from it. As he thought about it he couldn't help but smile outwardly and Uncle Vernon's confident and haughty demeanour failed. "Why are you laughing boy?"

Harry smiled again and took a moment before replying. "I won't mention Hogwarts and tell her that I go to St. Brutus only under one condition." Harry literally proclaimed.

"WHAT?" Uncle Vernon's face was completely purple now. "If you tell her anything about your weirdness, your face will never be the same again, BOY."

"Beating the crap out of me won't make Aunt Marge forget what I could tell her or show her." Harry replied slyly.

Uncle Vernon's already purple face unbelievably became even purpler. "W—what do you want?" He finally stuttered out. Harry guessed that uncle Vernon wasn't as foolish as he looked. He did run a successful company after-all.

Harry smile again and with a flourish took out the Hogsmeade-form and waved it. "Sign this. It is a permission form which allows me to visit a village near my school. Sign it and you have a deal. No funny business at all." Harry said.

"Very well, I will sign it if you behave….." Uncle Vernon began but Harry interrupted him.

"Sign it now and I will behave Uncle Vernon. I don't trust you." Harry said dead seriously.

Uncle Vernon looked visibly angry now and for a moment Harry thought that the big vein on his face would burst. But he simple groaned after a minute as he removed his pen from his coat-pocket. "Where do I have to sign?" He asked frustration rife in his voice. Harry showed him the spot and snatched the piece of parchment as soon as Uncle Vernon was done with the signature. He pocketed the permission slip and scooted over to his room to hide all things magical; if he was to live as a muggle he might as well be good at it.

Four days later Harry's temper was literally at a breaking point. Aunt Marge was, in Ginny's words being a 'bitch' and he had barely been able to hold his temper and tongue in front of her. The Sirius Black situation wasn't helping his temper at all either. Ginny had confirmed that he had indeed escaped from Azkaban and somehow she had also managed to stop the twins and Ron from over-reacting when they heard about the escape. Harry had a feeling that Bill very much suspected that Sirius Black's escape had somehow managed to affect Ron, Ginny, and the twins and concurrently even Harry, even though he probably didn't know anything about Sirius Black being Harry's godfather, but he hadn't said anything so far. Ron of course hadn't helped diminish his suspicions by asking about blood wards. But surprisingly Bill hadn't asked any extra questions but simply answered that blood wards work on 'intent' and so, if someone wishes the person on whom the blood wards are based harm, he/she wouldn't be able to pass through the blood-wards.

That day at dinner, Aunt Marge got drunk and it went rather downhill from there. She insulted Harry's parents one time too many and called Lily Evans-Potter a bitch one time too many. Unfortunately for Harry, Ginny had nudged him the same time and she was listening in to the conversation too and unlike Harry, Ginny always called a spade a spade and she was fuming as far as Aunt Marge went and her anger was fuelling Harry's own anger and irritation . He finally managed to convince her to go to sleep otherwise he was sure that he was going to blow a gasket pretty soon. But Harry's anger reached a crescendo when Aunt Marge called Harry's parents drunk-bastards and a moment later every piece of crystal in the Dursleys' kitchen had been smashed and Aunt Marge couldn't speak anymore. Her mouth had been sealed. She didn't have lips anymore; there was a thin membrane of skin stretching across the place where her mouth should have been. Harry stared at her mouth in wonder and then stared at his hand again; he didn't have a wand in his hand, so it had to be accidental magic. He was after-all hoping that Aunt Marge would just shut-up. Harry was horrified and yet couldn't help laughing as he kicked away his chair and streaked towards his bedroom.

He had enough of the Dursleys, wards or no wards. This time the insults had gone on for too long, he simply couldn't take it anymore without 'reacting'. Harry threw the door of his room open and grabbed his almost fully filled trunk. He really needed a new trunk. With all his books he barely had any place for all his clothes. He somehow managed to stuff all his clothes into the trunk and was almost at the door when Uncle Vernon threw open the door and entered the room.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, BOY? SET HER RIGHT, RIGHT NOW!" Uncle Vernon bellowed out.

"NO, she deserved it. Anyways I can't do anything either. That was accidental magic; I have no idea how to reverse it." Harry spat out.

Uncle Vernon became visibly angrier and swung his fist around to hit Harry. But Harry was quick and jumped out of the way and before the punch had even been completed he had drawn his wand out and was now pointing it at Uncle Vernon. "Don't make me do something that 'YOU' will regret." Harry said in a cold voice.

Harry was surprised when Uncle Vernon almost flinched away and actually stepped away from the door. Harry dragged his trunk through the door and down the stairs and out of the house. He was really fed-up with the Dursleys. He still hadn't been able to figure out why they hated him. It wasn't like he ever went out of his way to trouble them. He shook away the thought of the Dursleys and began to think a bit logically as he reached Magnolia Crescent. He barely had any British Pounds with him and neither did he have a lot of Galleons with him. Then there was the small matter of him performing magic in summer. Granted it was accidental magic but he didn't have any idea how the ministry would look at it. He really needed to talk to Ginny.

"_GINNY!" _Harry mentally screamed out. She was obviously asleep and a few moments later he felt Ginny waking up.

"_What Harry?" _Came Ginny's groggy response. But two minutes later and the entire story later. Ginny was wide—wide—wide awake. _"Okay, don't panic Harry. I don't think that they are going to arrest you or throw you in jail either. The twins have received heap loads of warning till date. If you haven't used your wand I am pretty sure that you are in the clear. So don't worry about the ministry."_

Harry calmed down a bit after that. _"But what about her sealed mouth? And where am I going to stay. I still have almost a month to go before Hogwarts reopens."_

"_Don't worry about her. The ministry must have detected the spike of magic in your house and an accidental magic reversal squad must be on it's way already." _Ginny paused as it seemed that she was thinking over something. _"And you can stay at the Leaky Cauldron until summer is out. I really doubt that anyone is going to deny 'you' a room."_

Surprisingly Harry was completely calm now. _All right I will go there. I think I can summon the _Knight Bus _using my wand. I remember having read that you can use it for emergency transportation or something. I will nudge you or something after I reach London and hopefully am in a room."_ Harry told Ginny and she mentally agreed.

Harry bent down and firmly closed his trunk as he prepared to call the Knight Bus. A funny prickling on the back of his neck had made Harry feel he was being watched, but the street appeared to be deserted, and no lights shone from any of the large square houses. Harry ignored the feeling putting it down to paranoia.

Harry stood up with the wand ready in his hand. He summoned the Knight Bus and in the couple of seconds before the Knight Bus appeared Harry saw, quite distinctly, the hulking outline of something very big, with wide, gleaming eyes. It seemed to be a very big dog or some kind of a big cat. But before he could contemplate on it anymore he heard a loud BANG and Harry threw up his hands to shield his eyes from the piercing headlights. With a yell and out of pure instincts Harry jumped out of the way of the Knight Bus. He had completely forgotten the part where you were supposed to stand on the pavement before summoning the Knight Bus. A second later, a gigantic pair of wheels and headlights screeched to a halt exactly where Harry had just been lying. They belonged, as Harry saw when he raised his head, to a triple-decker, violently purple bus, which had appeared out of thin air. Gold lettering over the windshield spelled _**The Knight Bus**_

A moment later a conductor in a purple uniform leapt out of the bus and began to speak loudly to the night.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board) and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this eve --"

The conductor stopped abruptly. He had just caught sight of "Harry, who was still sitting on the ground. Harry snatched up his wand again and scrambled to his feet. Close up, he saw that Stan Shunpike was only a few years older than he was, eighteen or nineteen at most, with large, protruding ears and quite a few pimples.

"What were you doin' down there?" said Stan, dropping his professional manner.

Harry looked up at him Stan Shunpike with a bit of irritation. "I fell down of course." He then turned to look at the alleyway wherein he had seen that big animal-thing whatever it was. But now that the Knight Bus's lights were flooding it, he could see nothing in it.

"Well 'et up then. We have many customers at night." Stan Shunpike said as he offered Harry a hand. Harry got up and watched the alley again as Stan loaded his trunk and Harry realized that he was staring at his scar with great interest.

"Woss that on your head?" Stan asked.

Without thinking Harry answered. "It's just a scar nothing else." Suddenly he realized that Stan had literally frozen up as he continued to stare at Harry.

"You—You are……" Stan began but Harry interrupted him.

"Yeah, I am Harry Potter but will you please keep it quiet. I hate it when people pay too much attention to me. Pleas?" Harry requested.

Stan stared at Harry for another ten seconds before nodding his head. _"Lucky save Potter. Or your adoring fans would have been all over you in the bus." _It was Ginny, she was obviously still listening in.

"_Ha-Ha very funny." _Harry shot back as he boarded the bus and a moment later and an obnoxious jump later they were on their way again. Harry paid for his fare to London and then settled onto his brass bedstead. Stan hadn't been able to avoid telling the driver who Harry was and Ernie the driver almost lost control of the bus after hearing it. Stan was reading the Daily Prophet and Harry spotted Sirius Black's photo on the front-page. The Knight Bus rolled through the darkness, scattering bushes and wastebaskets, telephone booths and trees. One by one, wizards and witches in dressing gowns and slippers descended from the upper floors to leave the bus. They all looked very pleased to go. Finally, Harry was the only passenger left.

"Right then, Harry;" said Stan, clapping his hands, where abouts in

London?"

"Diagon Alley," said Harry.

"Righto!" said Stan. "'Old tight, then."

BANG.

They were thundering along Charing Cross Road. Harry sat up and watched buildings and benches squeezing themselves out of the Knight Bus's way. The sky was getting a little lighter. Ern slammed on the brakes and the Knight Bus skidded to a halt in front of a small and shabby- looking pub, the Leaky Cauldron, behind which lay the magical entrance to Diagon Alley.

"Thanks," Harry said to Ern.

He jumped down the steps and helped Stan lower his trunk onto the pavement.

"Well," said Harry. "'Bye then!"

But Stan wasn't paying attention. Still standing in the doorway to the bus he was goggling at the shadowy entrance to the Leaky Cauldron.

"There you are, Harry," said a voice.

Harry turned around to come to face to face with Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Great, Harry thought as he extended his hand towards the Minister. _"Butter him up Harry; he is a sucker for praise. Play to his ego." _Ginny advised Harry and Harry mentally nodded.

"Yes Sir, I know who are. I have read a lot about you. In fact you are mentioned in a book 'Prefects who gained Power'. It paints a very creditable picture of your achievements post Hogwarts Sir." Harry said as he desperately hoped that Fudge was a prefect during his Hogwarts time. Harry gave a mental nudge to Ginny so that she would stop laughing as he saw Fudge look in confusion for a moment before his face began to literally glow in with pride.

Half an hour later, Harry couldn't believe his good luck. Not only was he not to be punished in any manner but he was going to spend the rest of the summer at the Leaky Cauldron. But there was one thing which most certainly worried him. Fudge had made him promise over and over again that he wouldn't leave Diagon Alley and wander into muggle-London. And Fudge's reaction when Harry asked him about Sirius Black was absolutely an open book. Fudge and Harry supposed Professor Dumbledore too were afraid that Sirius Black was gonna go after him. That is why the promise of staying in Diagon Alley.

"_Ginny what do you make of it?" _Harry asked ten seconds after Fudge was out of the room. _"They think that Black is after me don't they?"_

"_I am afraid that I will have to agree with you. You will have to be very careful and alert." _Ginny implored Harry.

"_I will Ginny, I promise. Besides I don't think that Black is going to attack me while I am in Diagon Alley in front of so many witnesses." _ Harry replied back and Ginny agreed.

Harry's last part of the summer vacation at the Leaky Cauldron was an absolute brilliant. Hedwig was with him now and he needn't worry about uncle Vernon finding about her. He could also eat as much as he wanted and he could actually have a sundae for lunch. As Ginny said, it was like Harry was a vacation too. The only time when he broke his promise to the minister was when he went for a jog early morning on the footpaths in muggle London; Diagon Alley was rather cluttered to have a jog. He also had bought a couple more books on Potions and some on Defence against the Dark Arts. But the biggest surprise was that Hagrid's gift which he finally dared to open turned out to be the Care of Magical Creatures Book. Harry had a sneaking suspicion that Hagrid might be the new professor for that class. Only he could set a book that tried to bite. Luckily Harry managed to figure how to 'control' the book. On an impulse he stroked the spine as you would pet an actual animal and the book immediately become docile.

The new Defence against the Dark Arts Professor seemed to be much better than Lockhart, though that wasn't saying much. But he had assigned only one book and from the looks of it there were seven different books for the seven years. The syllabus for the third years seemed to include all the dark creatures. But what surprised Harry the most was that even though werewolves were actually listed in the book, they hadn't been denounced straight-away as dark creatures. According to the book all werewolves retained completely human characteristics. Once again the thoughts of perhaps sending a letter to Remus Lupin started circling in his mind, especially now that Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban. But for some reason, Harry simply couldn't get himself to do that. He felt betrayed and ignored. Remus Lupin hadn't come and visited him once in 13 years now and that—that just hurt worse than SkeleGrow.

As the summer started winding down Harry saw more and more of his Hogwarts' co-students. But the Weasleys were still in Egypt. Ginny had told him that they were going to return to only a couple of days before the summer ended. Spend a day at the Burrow and then spend the last night most probably at the Leaky Cauldron. About a week before 1st of September the _**Firebolt**_ was displayed in the Quality Quidditch store. The broom looked simply magnificent and Harry could almost imagine it flying by only looking at it. It's makers guaranteed it to be the fastest broom in the world and Harry certainly couldn't doubt that after taking a look at it's gleaming polished handle and the unbelievably neat bristles. He was rather tempted to buy it but he had a perfectly good broom. A broom which he had flown underwater and killed a basilisk while flying. And he didn't want to spend Merlin knows how many galleons on an extra broom.

Harry finally decided to visit Gringotts three or four days before the vacation finished. So far he had been spending from the galleons that he had got last year and after the number of books he had gotten he most certainly needed a bigger trunk, which he knew wouldn't be less than ten galleons that he had left in his pouch. Also he would need to clear his bill at the Leaky cauldron and that was most certainly going to be more than ten galleons. Harry entered Gringotts expecting to ride on their crazy carts again. Only once again to be whisked off to meet Ragnok. He entered the plush chambers again and Ragnok was seated right at the desk.

"Welcome again Harry Potter. Please take a seat." Ragnok said and pointed towards the only chair large enough for him to sit on. Harry thanked him and sat down and looked up only to notice that Ragnok was staring at Harry with an incredulous look on his face. Ragnok kept on staring at Harry for a whole minute and finally Harry couldn't take it anymore.

"Err Ragnok, why are you staring at me like this? I haven't got those looks since I came out of the five months long coma." Harry said.

Ragnok once again did not reply immediately but took his own sweet time, still staring at Harry. "You have been soul-bonded, Harry Potter." Ragnok finally declared.

"Eh?" Harry asked confusedly. Suddenly Harry realized what Ragnok was saying. Ragnok was most probably talking about. The dream sharing with Ginny. The ability to 'mentally' talk with her and the ability of being able to guess each others emotions. That must be the Soul Bond that Ragnok was talking about. He wondered whether he should talk with Ginny before he asked Ragnok anything more, but he decided against it and boy he was glad that he hadn't asked Ginny.

"W—What exactly does that mean?" Harry asked Ragnok after almost a minute.

"It means exactly that, Harry Potter. You and your partner are bonded at your very souls. Theoretically you never were two different souls, but were actually one soul split into two bodies. I believe that depending upon the stage that the soul-mates achieve; they can mentally converse, feel each others emotions, passive thoughts and perhaps even see through each others eyes." Ragnok said.

Harry was totally shocked. He knew that his relation with Ginny was probably something big, but he hadn't expected all the soul business. "What exactly does it entail, literally?" He asked after a moment.

"You and your soul-mates are partners for life." Ragnok replied. "If one of you dies, the other one will die soon."

Harry's eyes were wide as saucers now. Ginny must have had some idea about this, no wonder she wanted to have that discussion face to face. "Does partners for life mean that you know we are going to be…….." Harry couldn't quite finish the question but Ragnok seemed to have caught his drift.

"Legally Harry Potter, you and you partner are husband and wife." Ragnok replied. "Also under goblin-law, it is proof of majority. You can have access to your family vault now."

"B—But what if she doesn't love me?" Harry asked simply out of desperation.

Ragnok smiled before replying. "A soul-bond can only manifest itself under love Harry Potter, not otherwise."

"Oh." Was all that Harry could come up with. "Are these soul-bonds very common or something? Can everyone tell that we are soul-bonded?"

"No, I believe yours will be only the seventh soul-bond in I believe over five centuries. And no not everyone can recognize the bond house-elves can very easily recognize it but they are bound by their very magic to keep it a secret unless explicitly allowed by the pair to reveal it. Some goblins can, but I assure you that your secrets are completely safe with me."

Harry was still confused as he stepped out of the marble building. Ragnok had got him a bag of gold and then assured Harry that his secret would most certainly be safe with him. Ragnok had also told Harry that he was able to access the Potter vault, but Harry was absolutely in no mood to do so. He simply requested Ragnok to continue handling the Potter vault after all Ragnok had done so for almost a century quite admirably, Harry wasn't about to disturb that. As he thought about Ginny, he suddenly felt a swirl of emotions from her too.

"_Ginny did you hear all that too?" _He asked her after nudging her. Ginny did not reply straightaway.

"_What did you mean by, 'what if she doesn't love me'?" _Ginny suddenly asked.

"_I—I meant what if you were forced into this bond only because somehow I pulled you into it and you were not happy about it?" _Harry replied.

"_Does that mean that you love me?" _Ginny asked after a moment.

"_Yes, I do." _Harry replied confidently and then suddenly his confidence dented. _"I mean, I don't know what love exactly is or anything but……ever since I have………I mean I don't even know what you think, but it is just that……" _Harry couldn't quite complete his reply.

Ginny didn't reply at all, instead she simply brought out all the feelings that she felt for Harry out to the fore and when Harry felt them, he was literally blown away. She really did love him and he most certainly did love her.

Harry got up on the last day of the summer vacation absolutely excited. The Weasleys had returned back home a day earlier and they were expected to come to the Diagon Alley later in the day. More importantly that meant that Ginny would be there too and he was going absolutely ballistic to meet her. He decided to take another look at the Firebolt as Ginny told him that it was going to be at least half an hour before the Weasleys graced Diagon Alley. Finally the Weasleys were there and Ginny told them that since they had met Hermione in the Leaky Cauldron, they were off shopping for books. Since Harry didn't really want to go into the bookstore again, he told Ginny that he would wait in the ice-cream shop. Half an hour later Ron, Hermione and Ginny came into Harry's view and he waved out vigorously in their direction, though what he really wanted to do was run out towards them and grab Ginny into a warm embrace, but that would have raised too many question. Questions that they couldn't answer as Ginny and he had decided to keep the bond a secret. Ginny had decided not to act on it as they would have enough time and as she said privacy at Hogwarts to talk face to face. Saying that they loved each other through their mental link wasn't really the same as the good old face to face talk.

But Harry couldn't really hold himself back as he went ahead and hugged Ginny anyways the moment she was close enough. _"Nice move Potter, I thought we were going to keep it a secret!" _Ginny said sarcastically.

"_Don't worry I will compensate for it." _Harry said as he hugged Ron and Hermione too.

"Finally!" said Ron, grinning at Harry as he sat down. "We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but they said you'd left, and we went to Flourish and Blotts, and Madam Malkin's, and --"

"I got all my school stuff last week," Harry explained. "And how come you knew I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron?" Harry asked trying to keep up the looks.

"Dad," said Ron simply. Mr. Weasley, who worked at the Ministry of Magic, would of course have heard the whole story of what had happened to Aunt Marge.

"Did you really seal up your aunt's mouth, Harry?" said Hermione in a very serious voice.

"I didn't mean to," said Harry, while Ron roared with laughter. "I just -- lost control."

"It's not funny, Ron," said Hermione sharply. "Honestly, I'm amazed Harry wasn't expelled."

"Well, he is the Harry Potter after-all isn't he?" Ginny said teasingly.

"Haha, very funny." Harry replied. He knew that he was let off so lightly only because he was Harry Potter. "What's all that, Hermione?" Harry asked, pointing at not one but three bulging bags in the chair next to her.

"Well, I'm taking more new subjects than you, aren't I" said Hermione. "Those are my books for Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, the Study of Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies --"

"What are you doing Muggle Studies for?" said Ron, rolling his eyes at Harry. "You're Muggle- born! Your mum and dad are Muggles! You already know all about Muggles!"

"But it'll be fascinating to study them from the wizarding point of view," said Hermione earnestly.

"Are you planning to eat or sleep at all this year, Hermione?" asked Ginny, literally reflecting Harry's thoughts, while Ron sniggered. Hermione ignored them.

"I've still got ten Galleons," she said, checking her purse. "It's my birthday in September, and Mum and Dad gave me some money to get myself an early birthday present."

"How about a nice book? Said Ron innocently.

"No, I don't think so," said Hermione composedly. "I really want an owl. I mean, Harry's got Hedwig and you've got Errol --" "I haven't," said Ron. "Errol's a family owl. All I've got is Scabbers."

He pulled his pet rat out of his pocket. "And I want to get him checked over," he added, placing Scabbers on the table in front of them. "I don't think Egypt agreed with him." Scabbers was looking thinner than usual, and there was a definite droop to his whiskers.

"There's a magical creature shop just over there," said Harry, who knew Diagon Alley very well by now. "You could see if they've got anything for Scabbers, and Hermione can get her owl."

But Hermione didn't get an owl but instead got a half kneazle cat. He that is the cat had a flat face and orange coloured fur and he immediately took a liking to Scabbers which needless to say Ron didn't appreciate at all. That meant that Ron and Hermione spent a considerable part of the afternoon, arguing over the eating habits of cats.

Dinner that evening was absolutely brilliant as far as Harry was concerned. Harry, Hermione and the seven Weasleys were all seated around one large table and it was like being back at the Burrow again with only one small difference. While Mrs. Weasley was quite clearly fawning over Percy and his appointment as the Head-Boy, the twins and Ron were point-blank ignoring Percy. They had refused to as much as acknowledge his presence at the table and refused to even pass around food-bowls when Percy asked for them. They hadn't even congratulated Percy when he was appointed as the Head-Boy. Even worse the twins hadn't cracked a single joke on Percy being appointed the Head Boy. Ginny hadn't mentioned this when Harry and she had talked over the summer and Harry found it rather disturbing that there actually could be a crack in the Weasley family and worse he knew that he was the source of that crack.

"_What do you mean, Harry?" _Ginny asked almost as soon as that thought had flitted through his mind. Harry and Ginny had realized that ever since their confession that they loved each other, they had been able to read each others thoughts if they were really concentrating on each other.

"_Well, Percy always maintained that I was the Slytherin heir last year and went to great lengths to prove it. The twins and Ron didn't like that at all I think they are carrying that grudge over." _Harry said as he thought over it. _"I need to talk to them. I really don't like being the reason for any estrangement."_

"_I don't think you talking is going to help." _ Came Ginny's reply.

"_And why is that Gin?"_

Ginny didn't reply immediately and Harry sensed her feeling a bit uncomfortable. _"The twins and Percy had a pretty big argument one day about a week after the vacation began. The twins wanted Percy to apologize to you for suspecting you when he should have known better. But Percy maintained that more than half the castle felt that you were the heir so he need not apologize. He also said that the evidence was stacked against you so he shouldn't be sorry. But they really came to heads when Percy said that you should have been punished for your actions against Malfoy." _ At that Harry actually detected more than a hint of malice in Ginny's voice. _"That's when Ron who had been silent till then, punched Percy right on the face. The twins, Ron and I haven't talked with Percy since that day. Neither mum nor dad was home when the argument broke out and they can't figure out what happened that made the twins and Ron and even me actually, literally excommunicate Percy. But none of us said a thing and we simply haven't talked with Percy since." _Ginny finished the spite about Percy still evident in her voice.

Harry let the spoon that had come to his mouth drop back onto his plate. Now that his suspicions were confirmed, he simply couldn't help but feel really, really guilty. He didn't even expect an apology from Percy. Hell, he had practically forgotten that Percy was hell-bent on proving him to be the heir. He really was responsible for the estrangement. He had effectively cracked the family into two. Suddenly he felt Ginny kick his shins from below the table.

"_What?" _He asked a bit irritably.

"_This is exactly the reason why Percy needs to apologize, Harry." _Was all that Ginny said, and Harry really couldn't argue with that.

That night after he had finished packing his new trunk(it was magically expanded inside but it certainly didn't have the space of a room that the twins had described), Harry decided that he might as well clear his bill with Tom then instead of leaving it till the morning. Mr. Weasley had announced during the dinner that he had managed to get Ministry cars to ferry them to King's Cross. That announcement raised more than a few eyebrows among everyone but nobody said anything loudly. The twins, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry all knew or rather guessed that the ministry cars were going to be there only for one reason. Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban and his relation to Harry. The relation about which they were not supposed to know. There had been an unwritten agreement among all of them that they wouldn't be discussing the Sirius Black issue unless they were all either in Hogwarts or at least on the Express, after-all Harry wasn't supposed to know that Sirius Black was his godfather.

Harry cleared his bill and was halfway along the passage to the bar, which was now very dark, when he heard another pair of angry voices coming from the parlor. A second later, he recognized them as Mr. and Mrs. Weasleys'. He hesitated, not wanting them to know he'd heard them arguing, when the sound of his own name made him stop, then move closer to the parlor door.

"--makes no sense not to tell him," Mr. Weasley was saying heatedly.

"Harry's got a right to know. I've tried to tell Fudge, but he insists on treating Harry like a child. He's thirteen years old and --"

"Arthur, the truth would terrify him!" said Mrs. Weasley shrilly. "Do you really want to send Harry back to school with that hanging over him? For heaven's sake, he's happy not knowing!"

"I don't want to make him miserable; I want to put him on his guard!" retorted Mr. Weasley. "You know what Harry and Ron are like, wandering off by themselves -- they've ended up in the Forbidden Forest twice that we know off! But Harry mustn't do that this year! When I think what could have happened to him that night he ran away from home! If the Knight Bus hadn't picked him up, I'm prepared to bet he would have been dead before the Ministry found him."

"But he's not dead, he's fine, so what's the point

"Molly, they say Sirius Black's mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to escape from Azkaban, and that's supposed to be impossible. It's been three weeks, and no one's seen hide nor hair of him, and I don't care what Fudge keeps telling the Daily Prophet, we're no nearer catching Black than inventing self-spelling wands. The only thing we know for sure is what Black's after

"But Harry will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts."

"We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black can break out of Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts."

"But no one's really sure that Black's after Harry

There was a thud on wood, and Harry was sure Mr. Weasley had banged his fist on the table. "Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? They didn't report it in the press because Fudge wanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to Azkaban the night Black escaped. The guards told Fudge that Blacks been talking in his sleep for a while now. Always the same words: 'He's at Hogwarts... he's at Hogwarts.' Black is deranged, Molly, and he wants Harry dead. If you ask me, he thinks murdering Harry will bring You-Know-Who back to power. Black lost everything the night Harry stopped You- Know-Who, and he's had twelve years alone in Azkaban to brood on that..."

Harry wanted to listen further but he realized that Ginny had heard that too and she had panicked completely and by the sound of it, climbing down the stairs and fast. Harry could almost feel the waves of dread, shock and alarm resounding from her. Harry abandoned his post and decided that Ginny needed comfort more than anything. He reached the door of his room to find Ginny standing in front of it with tears in her eyes. She abandoned all pretext and literally threw herself into Harry's arms.

"_I don't want any—anything to happen to you, Harry." _Ginny 'mentally' said as Harry opened the door to his room and pulled her into the room with him. Harry's heart literally broke on watching Ginny crying like this. She had barely got over her own nightmares and now……

"_C'mon Ginny, don't panic. We always knew for well over a month that Sirius Black was after me or something of that sort. This simply confirms it. This is nothing new." _Harry tried to reassure Ginny. _"And everyone knows that even Voldemort was afraid of Professor Dumbledore and never-ever managed to break into Hogwarts. I don't think that a right-hand man of his is going to manage that. So please—please don't panic and be so miserable. It breaks my heart to see you worrying so much over me."_

After a few moments Ginny broke out of the hug and actually managed to smile a bit. _"Will, you promise to me that you won't go on anymore adventures or anything in the forest?" _Harry mentally nodded. _"And you promise that you will be really—really careful?" _Harry nodded again. After another ten minutes and another ten promises of taking adequate precaution, Ginny slipped out of Harry's room.

As Harry laid down on his bed, he stared at the beautiful full-moon visible outside the window. Barely half an hour ago, inspite knowing about Black's escape, Harry had been hoping for a 'normal' and 'calm' school year wherein he would only have to concentrate on winning at Quidditch and marching on towards his aim of receiving full marks in at least one Potions' homework piece. But it seemed that fate had ordained that he wasn't to have a normal year, 'again'.


	18. Professor Hagrid and Professor Lupin

On the morning of September one, Harry woke up pretty much at the crack at the dawn as had become his habit over the summer and went for his last jog on the empty London footpaths for at-least a year

On the morning of September one, Harry woke up pretty much at the crack at the dawn as had become his habit over the summer and went for his last jog on the empty London footpaths for at-least a year. He returned back to the Leaky Cauldron well before 8'O clock and was down for breakfast sharp at 8:30am with his packed trunk and all, half an hour before the time that had been allotted by Mrs. Weasley.

"_Mum already loves you Harry, you don't need to try and make an impression by presenting yourself half an hour before the allotted time." _ Came Ginny's annoyed voice at being woken up from bed by a clearly irritated Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley had spotted Harry in the parlor ready with his trunk at his side and decided that it was time for the others to wake up too and was going from room to room, waking up her tyrant defaulting sons and daughter who were all still in bed. Hermione and Percy were the only ones who were awake but they too were busy doing last-minute packing.

Harry only laughed in response as Tom brought him omelets for breakfast. Unbelievably the entire Weasley clan and Hermione were ready to depart at exactly 10'O clock. All the way from the Leaky Cauldron to King's Cross, Mr. Weasley kept Harry literally only at an arm's length. The olive-green ministry cars did have a lot of qualities similar to the Knight Bus only they were much more stable. They reached the station with over 20-minutes remaining for the Hogwarts' Express to depart. Harry had a feeling that that was a new Weasley-record.

"_It most certainly is." _Came Ginny's reply.

Mr. Weasley caught hold of Harry's arm as they went across the magical barrier together. Soon the rest of the Weasleys and Hermione followed as they headed towards the Express. Mrs. Weasley hugged all of them and hugged Harry longer than anyone else.

"Take care, Harry." Mrs. Weasley said her emotions pretty obvious in her voice.

"I will Mrs. Weasley." Harry replied evenly. When Mrs. Weasley moved onto hug Ginny, Mr. Weasley pulled Harry aside.

"Harry if I can have a word with you in private please." He said as he gently directed Harry away from the crowd. Harry knew exactly what he wanted to say. "Well, Harry I have to tell you something. Now neither the ministry nor Dumbledore think that it is prudent to tell you this, but I have always believed that it is better to be well-informed and insecure rather than be half-informed and have a false sense of security. So, here it is…………" But Harry interrupted Mr. Weasley.

"I know that Sirius Black is out to kill me, Mr. Weasley." Harry said and Mr. Weasley stared incredulously and open-mouthed at him for a full two seconds. But he finally seemed to recover.

"B—But how?" Mr. Weasley asked finally.

"Fudge said a lot of things and all but told me. He's not really suited to talk while keeping a secret." Harry tried to crack a lame joke but Mr. Weasley smiled the same. "But I only suspected it after that. But last night I was going down to clear my bills and I overheard you and Mrs. Weasley. I didn't mean too. But the door was open and…I am sorry."

"It's all-right, the two of us can be rather loud and frankly I would have been surprised if all the other things had escaped your attention." Mr. Weasley replied and then paused almost as if weighing his next words very carefully. "Promise me one thing though Harry, you will not go looking after him."

Now it was Harry's turn to be surprised. "Why would I go after a man whom I know is out to kill me?"

"Just promise me that under no circumstances will you go looking for Sirius Black." Mr. Weasley firmly persisted as the whistle to the Hogwarts' Express blew.

"I promise you, Mr. Weasley I won't go looking out for him." Harry replied.

"I will hold you to that promise, Harry." Mr. Weasley said as he shook hands with Harry again and then Harry ran towards the Express and boarded it and a few seconds later the Express started moving.

"Little Harrikins for a moment we thought that you were beginning to think that the Express is below…." The twins began but Harry interrupted them.

"We all need to talk, talk a lot." Harry said addressing the twins, Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

"Sir, Yes Sir!" The twins retorted as they started dragging their trunks searching for an empty compartment.

"Muggle expression?" Hermione asked the twins.

"Bill took us to a movie while we were in Egypt. They haven't stopped using those phrases since." Ginny supplied. The only compartment empty was the last one, right at the end of the train, but that too had a man sleeping inside it. The man was leaning against the window and hid face held a tired look too. He was wearing extremely shabby set of wizard's robes and his hair seemed to have been graying before time.

"This one is our best option. But looks like we can't talk." Ginny said as she held the compartment door open while everyone pushed their trunks and placed the trunks onto the racks.

"Well, little people we have to go. Popularity beckons and that call can hardly be ignored. Though we can speak the myriad happenings in Harry's life later. Adios." The twins left in their usual exuberant style.

"Who is this man anyways? I have never heard of grown-ups on the Express before, must be the new defense professor." Ron asked. Hermione who Harry observed was staring at the rack above the man's head had an expression of utter shock, surprise and astonishment on her face.

What's wrong Hermione?" Harry asked.

Hermione didn't reply but simply beckoned the three to step out of the compartment as she quite forcefully pushed Ron out.

"Hey, what was that for?" Ron asked indignantly.

Hermione did not reply immediately but closed the compartment-door behind her and looked around to make sure that there wasn't anybody else in the corridor close enough to overhear them. "You are not going to like this Harry."

"Why, don't tell me that he is Snape's evil twin brother or something." Harry said out as Ron and Ginny laughed but Hermione only growled lightly in slight frustration.

"No wise-cracks please, Potter." She ordered and everyone except Ginny shut-up. Ginny sure didn't like anyone who tried to force authority on her. "The man's name was embossed on his trunk, it is Professor R.J. Lupin." Hermione declared and Ginny shut-up instantaneously.

Harry suddenly wasn't feeling much at all. He felt shocked, surprised and another swirl of confusing emotions. Emotions that he couldn't place at all. After a moment he felt numb. He heard Ginny 'mentally' call out for him, but he ignored her. His godfather had broken out of prison and now his guardian-appointee was to be his Defence Professor. Why had Professor Dumbledore appointed one of Sirius Black's friends as the Defense Professor and a werewolf to boot? Boy the twins were right. His life really was a collection of 'myriad' happenings and 'myriad' events that were beginning to overwhelm him a bit. 

"_HARRY!" _Ginny had finally managed to get his attention.

"_What?" _Harry replied back in a miserable tone.

"Are you going to be all-right?" Ginny asked out loudly.

Harry didn't reply immediately. "Why wouldn't I be all-right?"

Neither Ginny nor Hermione nor Ron replied to that. They were silent for a few minutes. Before Ron spoke up again. "We sure have had interesting range of people as Defence Professors. A possessed Quirrel, then the fake Lockhart and now a wer………" But before he could complete the sentence he was interrupted by Hermione.

"DON'T complete that sentence." Hermione said out loudly but then continues on much more softly. "It would be curtains for his career as a professor if word got out about his….err….situation."

"B—But he is….I mean they are supposed to be dangerous and all." Ron said in an uncharacteristically soft voice.

"No they are not, Ron. Honestly do you ever read the assigned books or no? They are dangerous only when transformed otherwise they are as normal as we are." Hermione replied.

"Considering that 'we' includes Harry, I would rather be wary of that normality." Ginny tried to joke and it did make Harry crack a small smile. His situation was certainly interesting, almost fascinating from a third person's point of view.

"But—but he is still a…..you know. I mean I know I shouldn't be feeling anything different but he still……." Ron couldn't still come to terms with the fact that he would have to share a compartment with a werewolf.

Hermione raised her eyebrows dangerously. "You are being biased and prejudiced and judgmental without even speaking a word with him. That is exactly what Malfoy would say, Ron." Hermione replied. Ron immediately clamped his mouth shut. "The important thing is what does Harry want." Hermione said putting the ball in Harry's court.

Harry didn't really know what he was supposed to do. Admitting that he knew who Remus Lupin really was would mean that he would also have to admit that he knew a hell a lot about Sirius Black and that would raise a hell a lot of questions. He certainly didn't want to tell anyone that he had obtained the will from Ragnok. Also according to Mr. Weasley, again for some mysterious reasons Professor Dumbledore didn't want him to know anything about Sirius Black.

"_Status quo, Harry. Start off with a blank-slate as far as Lupin rather Professor Lupin is concerned. We can deal with 'Remus Lupin' later." _Ginny suggested and Harry couldn't disagree with her opinion.

"Let's start with a clean-slate as far as Professor Lupin is concerned. We don't know him or ANYTHING about him. Okay?" Harry said verbally and a moment later Ron and Hermione nodded. "Also, someone needs to go and warn the twins to keep their reaction in check when Professor Dumbledore announces the new Defense Professor. Would you go and tell them Ron?"

Ron nodded and started to move towards the front of the train where the twins were bound to be found. "Wait, I think Hermione should go too. She would be much better at it than you, after-all she did manage to convince you." Ginny suggested and Ron nodded after a few moments and Hermione set off with him too.

"_These have been rather interesting twenty-four hours, haven't they been?" _Harry said as he entered the compartment with Ginny and Ginny could only give him a small sad smile in response. Ron and Hermione returned to the compartment half an hour later and gave them a thumbs-up in response to the unanswered question.

"They were however quite blown-away that a marauder was going to be teaching them." Ron added very quietly. They spent the time until lunch discussing various things from Gryffindor's chances at the Quidditch Cup, to how Snape would be behaving this year and whether Malfoy was going to buy the Slytherin's the Firebolt this time round. Remus Lupin looked to be sleeping deeply through the day. Harry suddenly remembered that it was the full-moon the night before so according to the book, he would probably sleep through the day. They had lunch and Harry bought an extra cauldron-cake if Professor Lupin woke up. After having lunch the Harry was feeling rather sleepy. Ron was rather busy in demolishing Hermione in a chess-game. Ginny however was already taking a nap and she was leaning onto Harry's shoulder. The warm weight on his shoulder made him feel rather contented as he leaned against the door and closed his eyes.

Harry was woken up by the sound of the compartment door being thrown open. He groggily looked around. Professor Lupin was still asleep against the window as was Ginny against his shoulders. Ron and Hermione were however staring at the compartment door with a look of extreme distaste on their faces. Harry guessed that Malfoy had made his visit.

"Well, well, well what do we have here? Potty and Weasellete…….." Malfoy began but Harry interrupted him.

"Shut-up Malfoy and don't make me lose my temper. The last time a Malfoy made me lose my temper, that Malfoy who would be your father; I almost chopped his head off. Not to mention that I also made him give Dobby the house-elf clothes. So why don't you scoot away while you have the chance because Professor McGonagall isn't here right now to stop me as she did the last time." Harry replied coolly and then simply leaned against Ginny again and closed his eyes, though his hand was right on his wand.

Malfoy blubbered for a while but couldn't come up with anything so drew out his wand. "That is the new Defense Professor Malfoy." Ron said as he pointed towards Lupin. "I don't think that you are that foolish."

Malfoy took another look inside the compartment and then walked away gnashing his teeth. Harry smiled and napped off again. When Harry woke up it was dark again and the lamps inside the compartment had been lit. It was raining outside and raining quite heavily. Harry took a look at the watch that he had nicked from Hermione. They still had probably an hour before they reached Hogsmeade.

"_You slept right through the afternoon, Harry." _Came Ginny's voice over their link.

"_Yeah, I surmised that much." _Harry replied. _"Hasn't Professor Lupin woken up even once?" _Harry asked taking a look at the sleeping figure of Remus Lupin.

"_Nope. Though I almost thought that he would wake up when Ron and Hermione's arguing over the brutality of wizard's chess reached a crescendo." _Ginny replied in a playful tone.

"_Merlin! They are still arguing over that. It is a two year old argument. I thought that……" _But Harry couldn't quite complete the sentence as the train began slowing down rather swiftly and he banged his head against the door.

"We can't have reached Hogwarts. It's way too early for that." Hermione said as she stopped arguing with Ron and tried to look out of the window. But it was rather difficult to look outside as the windows were all fogged-up. The train came to a stop with a jolt, and distant thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness.

Ron who was the closest to the window tried to look outside. "There is someone outside. I think they are coming aboard."

The compartment door suddenly opened and someone fell painfully over

Harry's legs.

"Sorry -- d'you know what's going on? -- Ouch -- sorry

"Hullo, Neville," said Harry, feeling around in the dark and pulling Neville up by his cloak.

"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?"

"No idea -- sit down --"

There was a loud hissing and a yelp of pain; Neville had tried to sit on Crookshanks.

"Ouch!" said Neville.

"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly. Professor Lupin appeared to have woken up at last. Harry could hear movements in his corner. None of them spoke. There was a soft, crackling noise, and a shivering light filled the compartment. Professor Lupin appeared to be holding a handful of flames. They illuminated his tired, gray face, but his eyes looked alert and wary.

"Stay where you are," He said in the same hoarse voice, and he got slowly to his feet with his handful of fire held out in front of him. 

But the door slid slowly open before Lupin could reach it. Standing in the doorway, illuminated by the shivering flames in Lupin's hand, was a cloaked figure that towered to the ceiling. Its face was completely hidden beneath its hood. Harry's eyes darted downward, and what he saw made his stomach contract. There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, grayish, slimy-looking, and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water...

But it was visible only for a split second. As though the creature beneath the cloak sensed Harry's gaze, the hand was suddenly withdrawn into the folds of its black cloak. And then the thing beneath the hood, whatever it was, drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings.

An intense cold swept over them all. Harry felt his own breath catch in his chest. The cold went deeper than his skin. It was inside his chest, it was inside his very heart...

Harry's eyes rolled up into his head. He couldn't see. He was drowning in cold. There was a rushing in his ears as though of water. He was being dragged downward, the roaring growing louder. . And then, from far away, he heard screaming, terrible, terrified, pleading screams. Then he heard the vicious laughter that he had heard before. It was Riddle's laughter. He wanted to help whoever it was, he tried to move his arms, but couldn't... a thick white fog was swirling around him, inside him -

"Harry! Harry! Are you all right?"

"_HARRY! Wake up please." _Harry recognized Ginny's voice.

"W—What?" Harry asked as he finally managed to open his eyes. He looked around the compartment. He was lying on the floor. The lights were back on and the train was moving again. Ginny was on her knees right next to him and she had clasped his hand rather tightly. Ron, Hermione and Neville were all standing at staring at him with worried looks on their faces. Standing right at the door was Professor Lupin with his wand out and looking as alert. Harry tried to get up and Ron grabbed his other hand and pulled him up.

Harry relaxed and closed his eyes. _"What happened, Gin? Who screamed?"_

"_No-one screamed. You lost consciousness when that cloaked-thing thing came in. Then Professor Lupin said something about Black not being under out coats and then shot something silver at it and then the dementor went away." _Came Ginny's reply. She was clearly disturbed. Harry could feel her anxiety and concern. She still hadn't let go of his hand.

"Who were those, cloaked things?" Harry asked out to no-one in particular.

"Dementors. The guards of Azkaban." Replied Professor Lupin as he broke an enormous slab of chocolate and handed out a piece to everyone. "They make you relive the worst memories of your life." Everyone stared at him. Professor Lupin crumpled up the empty chocolate wrapper and put it in his pocket. "Eat," he repeated. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me..."

"Blasted things they are." Harry said. He was still feeling very cold and the sweat on the back of his head wasn't helping either. "Made me feel that I would never be happy again."

Everyone was immersed in their own thoughts after that declaration. "Yeah, that's how they make you feel." Hermione said and the others nodded too.

"_What is your worst memory, Gin?" _

"_Tom in the Chamber of Secrets, why?"_

Harry didn't reply immediately. _"I heard screaming and Voldemort's laugh. So I was wondering whether it was your scream or something."_

_Is the chamber, the worst memory of your life Harry?" _Ginny asked after a moment.

"_I guess. I mean I almost died and all." _But no sooner had Harry said that he knew that it didn't sound right. _"I don't think that's my worst memory."_

As Harry mulled over, what exactly was his worst memory, Professor Lupin returned. He paused as he entered, looked around, and said, with a small smile, "I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know..."

Harry took a bite and to his great surprise felt warmth spread suddenly to the tips of his fingers and toes.

"We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes," said Professor Lupin. "Are you all right, Harry?"

"Fine." Harry muttered embarrassed. He felt almost shameful. No one else had reacted to the dementors like he had. Why in the world had he gone to pieces? Was he really that weak?

"_Are you the same person who killed a basilisk minutes after waking-up from a five month long coma, Harry?" _Ginny asked rather forcefully. _"C'mon Harry, dementors are clearly foul creatures. Don't fret over it. You can fight them off, Professor Lupin did. You—we can learn how to fight them okay. Please don't worry too much about it. Okay?"_

Harry looked at Ginny and smiled. She was right. He was over-reacting. He would simply learn how to fight them. _"Thanks Gin."_

"_No problem, Mr. Potter. Just returning the favour." _Ginny replied playfully.

"Are the Dementors going to be around Hogwarts too, Sir?" Harry asked out suddenly.

Professor Lupin took a couple of seconds before replying. "I believe so but they have been expressly forbidden to enter inside the wards by Professor Dumbledore. So I daresay that you won't have to worry about the dementors coming inside the castle grounds."

None of the occupants of the compartment talked for the reminder of the journey. Finally about an hour later, the train started slowing down again and this time it did stop at Hogsmeade station.

"Well, see you all in class." Professor Lupin said as he got up preparing to leave the compartment. "And Harry I owled ahead informing the deputy Headmistress about you fainting, so I daresay that you will receive better medical attention on reaching the castle."

Harry groaned. The last thing that he wanted was for a big fuss made over his 'fainting'. Malfoy and Snape wouldn't let him live that down, ever. He made up his mind as he opened his trunk and took his broom out.

"What exactly are you doing Harry?" Ginny asked verbally.

"Am, flying into the tower directly. I am really not looking forward to being fussed over by Madame Pomfrey even before the term officially begins." Harry replied as he strode out of the compartment, suddenly feeling a whole lot better.

"But it's raining really heavily Harry. How can you fly in this much rain?" Hermione asked.

Harry simply raised his eyebrows at that question, while Ron replied for him. "He flew in a blizzard and underwater Hermione. Heavy rain would be a walk in the park."

Hermione wasn't convinced and wasn't finished. "But there are wards around the castle grounds. You cannot probably fly into the castle wards."

"Are there any wards underwater?" Harry asked with a smile. This time Hermione groaned out loudly and so did Ginny.

"_NO Harry. Absolutely not." _ Ginny sent mentally. "It's madness." She added verbally.

"All-right, all-right. I will get inside the wards and then fly off into the tower. I am absolutely not meeting Madame Pomfrey." Harry conceded as he started walking towards the carriages, rather carriage as there was only one left now.

"That is acceptable, Harry." Hermione said as they all reached the carriage and opened the door to get in. But the carriage wasn't empty. Professor Lupin was already sitting in, patiently waiting for the carriage to start moving.

"Ah, so you were the reason the carriage seemed to refuse to start. Well get in now." He said. "Always knew that these guys were rather smart."

Wondering who, 'these' guys meant, Harry got into the carriage last and shut the door. Even though there were five of them in the carriage there was plenty of room as it was designed to sit six. As the carriage trundled along, Harry noticed that Remus Lupin or rather Professor Lupin was staring at him or most probably the broom in his hand.

"Why exactly are you carrying the broom with you to the feast, Harry?" Professor Lupin asked.

Harry was about to reply, when he felt that cold sweep him again, he glanced a look outside and saw two towering dementors flanking the wrought-iron gates of Hogwarts. A few seconds later their carriage was beyond the gates and the feeling passed. He really needed to find a way to fight them off. Harry looked up to notice that Professor Lupin was still expecting an answer.

"Well, Sir I am not actually going to the feast." Harry replied and in one fluid motion he had opened the carriage doors mounted his brooms and taken off into the rain from the cramped door. 

Remus Lupin looked in amazement as Harry actually managed to get into the air; he hadn't really expected him to be able to take off. The door was quite small. There simply wasn't enough leg-space to generate any-kind of force and it was raining quite heavily. But Harry has more than comfortably got into the sheets of rain and within a few seconds was out of sight. It was simply unbelievable that he had managed to take-off and then comfortably fly into the air, as if it was an everyday occurrence. Remus Lupin turned back his attention towards the other occupants of the carriage and realized that they were not particularly surprised at Harry's actions.

"He's done this before?" Remus Lupin asked the remaining three students.

"No not really." Ginny replied.

"But he has flown in a heavy blizzard and also flown underwater." Ron smilingly added.

Remus Lupin's eyes widened in surprise at that. "Blizzard? Underwater?"

"Long-story, but both accurate. We didn't see the underwater-flight but apparently, Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape saw him do that. Got a week-long detention and lost Gryffindor a hundred points for it………." Hermione replied and Ron interrupted her.

"….when he should have got a special award for being the first person to fly underwater." Ron added making Hermione sniff in disagreement and Ginny laugh.

"Oh." Was all that Remus Lupin could come up with. He had been quite eager to meet the son of James and Lily Potter. He had almost forgotten how he looked. When he saw him in the compartment, it was like staring at the face of a younger James Potter with the eyes of Lily Potter. James' face with Lily's eyes and if Hagrid's word was anything to go by her brain and heart too. "Err, how is he going to get into the Gryffindor tower, he doesn't have the password yet does he?" He suddenly asked.

"He flies in from the window at the top of the Gryffindor tower. Don't ask us how he manages that though. A couple others tried and almost died." Ron supplied as the carriage thudded to a halt outside the castle doors.

Remus Lupin got out of the carriage shaking his head. It was going to be an interesting year around Harry not to mention the more painful specter of his former best friend Sirius Black hanging overhead.

Meanwhile Harry had landed in the Gryffindor tower and was heading towards his dorm. He dropped the broom onto his bed and realized that his trunk was already by the foot of the bed. The house-elves sure worked fast. Suddenly he realized something. He could ask Chucky about the secret-library theory that everyone had put forth after learning about the map. The twins had after-all systematically gone through the entire restricted-section of the library without any success. He could of course ask Remus Lupin about the map but that would mean confessing that they had the map and also knew who Moony was and what it meant and a whole lot of others secrets would tumble out too and he certainly didn't want to go down that line. Suddenly he realized that if there was indeed that 'secret' library then it would be a goldmine of well, everything. He could learn how to fight the dementors. He could learn….well anything and everything. Suddenly he didn't feel sleepy at all.

"_Ginny what is going on?" _Harry sent mentally as he donned the invisibility cloak and opened the portrait-hole to the enormous surprise of the Fat Lady and started walking towards the spiral-staircase that led to the kitchens.

"_Well the sorting is still going on." _Ginny replied back. _"And McGonagall did ask for you and we told her that you went off to the tower as you were feeling sleepy. She didn't look happy or convinced for that matter. You may be in trouble tomorrow. By the way Hagrid is indeed looking rather nervous and yet happy. You might be right after-all. And he also has a new wand. He was carrying it when he came into the Great Hall after dropping off the first-years."_

"_Shit! I can't believe that I am going to miss the announcement of Hagrid's appointment. Though I think that I might be able to arrange a surprise for him." _Harry said as he headed down the spiral staircases.

"_Pleasant surprise?" _Ginny asked.

"_Obviously. Hagrid is a friend and now a Professor. Wouldn't want to ruin his first day at all." _Harry replied.

A few minutes later he reached the kitchens to find a surprisingly calm atmosphere in there. He had expected it to be chaotic in preparation of the feast. A few seconds after he had entered the kitchens, Chucky was in front of him. She once again gave Harry a very curious look before speaking up. Harry suddenly remembered that house-elves could indeed recognize soul-bonds.

"_Request her to keep it a secret, Harry." _Ginny said reading Harry's thoughts.

"_Don't you want to be here?"_

"_It is okay. It is better that we cover the loose-ends."_

"Scarhead, welcome back to Hogwarts. How can Chucky help you?" She asked with a bow.

"Err; actually I wanted to request you something." Harry said and continued as Chucky bowed and nodded. "Can you keep please our bonding secret from everyone, including the headmaster?"

"Chucky, is bound by her magic to keep something as pure and undiluted as a soul-bond a secret. No-one can force it out of Chucky or any other house-elf either using any means, Scarhead. So Scarhead and his mate should not worry." Chucky said.

"Thanks Chucky, thanks from both of us. We really appreciate it." Harry said with a smile. "Actually I have another request. Hagrid is most probably going to be elevated to the position of the Care of Magical Creatures class' Professor today, so I was wondering if you know you could perhaps put out a congratulatory banner in the Great Hall for him after Professor Dumbledore makes the announcement."

Chucky looked thoughtful at that so Harry decided to play safe. "It's only a request Chucky and it is all-right if you can't do it."

"Chucky can do that Scarhead but Scarhead will have to tell Chucky what to say on the banner and when to unfurl the banner in the Great Hall."

"Thanks Chucky, I really appreciate that. I know that Hagrid would be really pleased. Thank You." Harry said. Chucky actually smiled at the gratitude that Harry was heaping on her. It was a pleasant change from the uncomfortable Chucky of two years ago. Harry was really surprised at the amount of magic that Chucky could manage. She had even produced magical-fireworks from somewhere. Luckily Dumbledore kept announcements of the appointments for the last, giving Harry enough time to come up with something. By the time finished deciding what to inscribe on the banner and Chucky finished inscribing the words deserts were being served in the Great Hall and Ginny was a bit anxious.

"_Harry. Dumbledore's up for his welcoming speech. Are you ready yet?"_

"_Yup, tell me when Professor Dumbledore moves on to the Care of Magical Creatures' announcement. Chucky needs two seconds to unfurl the banner over the Great Hall and to light the firecrackers."_

"_You can listen through the link you know." _Came Ginny's reply. Harry chided himself for forgetting that and concentrated on Ginny to listen to Professor Dumbledore's speech. Professor Dumbledore began his speech by warning the student-body about the dementors. He mentioned that they weren't fooled by any disguises or even invisibility cloaks. Harry had a feeling that that was for his benefit. He finished the announcement by saddling the Head-students with the responsibility of making sure that no student ran afoul of the Dementors. Then he moved on to the new appointments and announced Lupin as the new defense Professor and Harry almost kicked himself. Remus Lupin was a new appointment too.

"_Apologize to him later, Harry. It's not a big deal. By the way, Snape is looking murderous." _Ginny sent.

Harry didn't reply but concentrated on what Professor Dumbledore was saying. A moment later he began the announcement. 

'….to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am pleased to announce that the position will be taken over by our……'

"Now Chucky." Harry said and a moment later Harry heard a tremendous bang as the sound of the magical-firecrackers could be heard in the Great Hall and a moment later Harry heard the unfurling sound of the banner"

'_**Congratulations Hagrid. You deserve the position of a Professor and a lot more. All the Best for your new job.'**_

_-from Hogwarts._

_P.S: we still expect you to support Gryffindor at Quidditch._

_P.P.S: stroke the spine of the 'Monster Book of Monsters' to stop it from Biting._

"_The banner has unfurled Harry. Everyone can read it." _ Ginny mentally said. _"And Hagrid is indeed looking happy and is welling up. Now he's standing up and a lot of students, mainly Gryffindors are giving him a standing ovation. You had to put in the Scarlet and Gold didn't you?" _Ginny said.

"_Well, he is Gryffindor's only steady supporter." _Harry replied defensively and Ginny laughed in reply.

Back in the Great Hall it took another 30-seconds for the standing ovation to die down and by then Hagrid was literally in tears. Professor Dumbledore continued after there was silence in the Great Hall again.

"Yes, the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher is our very own Rubeus Hagrid." There was applause again for a shirt while. "And I am sure that he will indeed continue supporting the Gryffindor Quidditch team. That is all that is important for today, Good-Night."

Professor Dumbledore settled back onto his chair as the students started drifting off towards their respective common-rooms. Harry Potter was missing from the Welcoming Feast for the second successive year and though this year he had a very good idea as to how Harry had spent the evening. But he hadn't been able to see Harry anywhere in the Great Hall before the banner and the fireworks went up. Albus Dumbledore hadn't managed to figure out as to how Harry had managed to stage the banner-event. He turned towards Hagrid, who looked really moved by the gesture and was crying right now even as Professor McGonagall was shooing away some of Harry's friends. 

He knew that the appointments of a werewolf and a half-giant would be controversial. But Remus Lupin and Hagrid were the best persons for the job. Of course the escape of Sirius Black had added an extra twist to Lupin's appointment but the contract had been long done and dusted and even if it hadn't been, he wouldn't have rejected Lupin only because his former friend had betrayed the Potters and killed more than a dozen muggles and another friend. Sirius Black had presented another dilemma for him. Should he reveal to Harry that Sirius Black was the person responsible for revealing the location of his parents to Voldemort? The revelation that cost James and Lily Potter their lives. Should he inform Harry about the fact that Black was Harry's legal godfather and had broken out of prison to murder his godson? 

After much thought he had decided not to tell Harry about it. Telling Harry the entire story would rob him of the innocence that could still be seen in his eyes. He knew that sooner or later Sirius Black was going to turn up at Hogwarts and if Harry got wind of the entire story, judging from his past actions he would go to great lengths to hunt Black down, himself. No it was best to keep the entire Black-saga a secret from Harry.

Down the table, Remus Lupin had walked up to his former, head of the house. "The staff wasn't responsible for the banner was it, Mam?"

"Minerva, Remus. I believe that I haven't been your Professor for some years now." Professor McGonagall replied.

Remus Lupin laughed softly before replying. "That is going to be very difficult to get off the tongue."

Professor McGonagall shook her head before replying. "You are however right about the banner. The staff was certainly not responsible for it."

"Harry then, I presume."

Professor McGonagall smiled before replying. "Well, he was the only one not present at the feast. Also I believe that it was on Harry's insistence that Albus petitioned the Ministry to have Hagrid's wand-ban over-turned."

Remus Lupin raised his eyebrows at that. "So, Hagrid's wild stories about Harry killing a basilisk and freeing him from Azkaban were true?"

Professor McGonagall shook her head at that. "Yes they are all true. Including one where I believe Harry somehow managed to procure a dragon's egg and then hatched it and managed to keep a fledgling dragon secret from everyone. Let me show you to your quarters, now." Professor McGonagall said as the Great Hall was now empty of all students.

Remus Lupin's eyes went wide as saucers at that. "Err, what kind of a student is Harry? What should I expect from him?"

"He's an interesting student." Professor McGonagall began as they began climbing the marble staircases. "Excellent at practical work in all subjects except for astronomy but simply pushes through his theoretical homework in all subjects except for Potions. If I remember correctly, he topped Potions back in his first year."

"So that is what Hagrid meant by Lily's brains." Remus said.

"Yes, I believe he has taken it upon himself to prove that an essay can be written in which Severus can't find a single mistake and Severus would have to assign full marks for it. Hasn't happened yet. However I have no idea about his Defense abilities. In the first year there hardly was any practical work and last year, Harry did not submit a single piece of defense-homework and somehow managed to get-away with it."

Remus Lupin's jaws dropped nearly to the floor after hearing that. "I don't think that even….err….we ever managed that." He said uncomfortably. "B—But why exactly did he not submit any homework?"

"I have no idea though I do believe that he wasn't too fond of Gilderoy Lockhart. On the first day of classes Harry somehow managed to convince some Cornish Pixies to attack him." Professor McGonagall said with a hint of amusement in her voice. She certainly never liked Lockhart. "Well, here we are. These are your quarters, the password is 'Horntail' and you can of course change it." Professor McGonagall said pointing to the painting of three dogs. "Good-night Remus and All the Best for tomorrow." Professor McGonagall wished him and then turned around and left, leaving a rather intrigued Remus Lupin behind her.

The next morning Harry woke up literally at the crack of dawn. He put on his sneakers and his old jogging suit and decided to go for the jog which had become quite a ritual through the summer. He ran about a quarter of the lake's circumference and then decided that that was enough for the morning. The lake's quarter circumference was most certainly longer than two miles and he still had to trek around the castle for the rest of the day. On the way back, Harry went up to Peeves' place and greeted him too. Peeves of course promised to help, 'Scarhead' and 'Rusty' with their history essays again. Harry also wanted to introduce Ginny to Peeves but that would have to wait for another time.

The night before after returning from the kitchens he had gotten the twins, Ron, Hermione and Ginny together and told them about the argument that he had over-heard and the fact that Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban to kill him. Ginny had taken the news stoically but the rest had taken it very, very badly. Harry had a feeling that their confidence wasn't helped by the fact that the dementors who were supposedly there to protect him had a rather adverse effect on him. Then as Ron pointed out, Sirius Black had escaped the dementors once already; the second time was bound to get easier.

He returned to his dorm showered got dressed and went to the common-room to find Hermione already busy reading the Arithmancy book. He had gone through it once and it was most certainly a difficult and complex subject. Maybe he should have gone with Divination after-all.

"That was a nice thing you did last night." Hermione said without looking up from her book. In all the reactions that followed Harry's declaration they hadn't discussed Hagrid's appointment at all.

"What did I do last night? Flying away from the feast?" Harry asked impishly as he settled onto the couch.

Hermione looked up from her book this time before replying. "Hagrid really appreciated it. It meant a lot to him. Three months ago, he was rotting away in Azkaban and now he can do magic again and is a Professor to boot."

"He's a really nice guy. Voldemort certainly messed up his life. He deserves the second chance that he is getting." Harry replied as he adjusted the strap of the watch that he had nicked from Hermione at the fag-end of last year. 

"Harry that is my watch that you are wearing." Hermione exclaimed.

"_Well—well what do we have here, Mr. Potter? The hero of Hogwarts and the star seeker Gryffindor prefers ladies' watches." _Ginny seemed to have woken up.

"Yeah well, I have lost three watches in two years and now I am tired of buying anymore new ones. So I nicked one of yours. Anyways you hate it; you used to wear it to Potions' class." Harry explained. _"You got that too, Gin?"_

"B—But it's a ladies' watch." Hermione spluttered.

"What?" Harry said looking at the watch. "It has a normal looking round dial and a leather strap which isn't thin. The only girlie thing in it is the picture of Minnie Mouse on the dial. No-one can tell that it is supposed to be a ladies' watch." Harry declared and took out his Potions' essay to see if he had missed any point.

"All-right, I never really liked the watch much anyways." Hermione replied and then she noticed the essay on shrinking Potions in his hand. "HARRY! Have you left your summer work until the last moment? And that too Potions'! How could you be so irresponsible?"

"_Forget it Harry, you are NOT going to get full-marks from Snape. Hermione will willingly walk out of a class before that happens." _Ginny added her two Knuts of wisdom as she got ready for the day.

"_I am going to get him give me full marks on this one. It is absolutely fault-less." _Harry replied back to Ginny before answering Hermione. "Cool it Hermione. I have six completed essays and this one encompasses the theory, facts and practical-results that I found while writing the other six. Am just reading over it." Harry replied to see an open-mouthed Hermione staring at him.

"H—How many days did you work on it?" She finally asked.

"About two months, but not continuously of course." Harry replied. "I finished the last one about a day before you guys turned up in Diagon Alley."

When Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny entered the Great Hall for breakfast, the Slytherins were trying tease Harry about his fainting but Harry actually found it mildly amusing. The Slytherins sure couldn't come up with anything original. After breakfast Harry headed to the Arithmancy class while Hermione walked with Ron to search for the Divination class. Harry was a bit confused about Hermione's time-table for he was sure that she had opted for Arithmancy as she was reading the Arithmancy book in the morning. Shaking his head he made his way to the Arithmancy class to find Hermione already sitting on the first bench.

"Hermione? What? How? Didn't you just go with Ron to Divination?" Harry asked in amazement as he settled next to her.

"I—I, no. I have Arithmancy now." Hermione seemed rather nervous and Harry wasn't convinced but he couldn't question anymore as the Arithmancy teacher, Professor Vector entered the class-room and began the class. Harry had been right in his judgment. Arithmancy was quite hard and it was going to take some work to make it through it. In fact most of the Gryffindors had avoided it completely. He and Hermione were the only Gryffindors in the class and the rest were all Ravenclaws. After the lesson was over, before he could pack his bag, Hermione had somehow managed to slip-away. It was completely unlike her and there was most certainly something fishy about her behaviour.

"_Ginny, did you by any chance catch that?" _Harry asked.

"_I am in the middle of double Potions with the Slytherins, Harry. So no. Though Snape is giving me very odd looks. He's staring at me like his life depended upon it." _Ginny replied mentally.

"_Avoid his eyes, Gin. Maybe he's trying Legilimency on you. Avoid his eyes and don't stay back alone with him." _Harry replied a bit of panic seeping into his voice.

"_All-right. Maybe I should hex him if I feel something." _Ginny replied.

"_Yeah maybe. You would get away with it and then the twins would probably worship the floor that you walk on as the only student to ever hex Snape and get away with it." _Harry replied, making Ginny laugh a bit. _"Well am almost at McGonagall's class, so see you later."_

Harry entered the class-room to realize that the class-room was almost full and even though Professor McGonagall hadn't yet entered, there was pin-drop silence in the class-room and everyone was staring at him with haunted and despairing looks in their eyes. Raising his eyebrows Harry went to the last row and took his seat next to Ron.

"What is going on, Ron?" Harry asked.

Ron gulped before replying. "We were reading tea-leaves in divination and Trelawney then she read my tea-cup and proclaimed that my raven-haired friend who wasn't here had the Grim. This time it is dead serious Harry. She actually saw the Grim in a tea-cup."

"I am, not believing some half-baked prediction from a self-appointed, seer. Now if Madame Pomfrey had made that prediction…." Harry's statement was left incomplete as Professor McGonagall entered the classroom just then and started the lecture. It was about animagi. An Animagus was a wizard or a witch who could turn themselves into an animal at will. Harry was rather fascinated by them and wondered if he could become an Animagus.

"_It would be brilliant." _Came Ginny's reply. _"We have to try."_

"_Don't you have your own class to attend, Gin?"_

"_Herbology. I hate it. It's too boring. I rather listen to third-year transfiguration lecture. By the way we should look into this Animagus thing if we manage to find that secret-library you are so intent on proving exists."_

_Maybe, Gin. But it sounds rather tough and very, very few seem to have the ability to manage it." _ Harry replied back as Professor McGonagall was enumerating the finer points of the transformation. Every couple of minutes the entire class was shooting looks at Harry, expecting him to drop dead any second.

"_Still, we can try. Maybe after the anti-dementor spell."_

"_Maybe." _Harry gave a non-committal reply as he watched in fascination as Professor McGonagall transformed into a tabby-cat and then back into herself. She looked rather perplexed and addressed the class.

"Really, what has got into you all? Not that it matters but, that's the first time that my transformation hadn't received applause from the class." Professor McGonagall asked.

Nobody replied as everyone including Hermione shot Harry another look. Harry found it rather irritating. He decided to speak out. "Well it seems that the Gryffindor Quidditch team is going to need a new seeker. It seems that Professor Trelawney has decided that I am going to die. I don't believe it, but everyone else does. So………."

"There is no need to explain any further, Mr. Potter. Let me inform you all that, predicting the death of one of her student is Professor Trelawney's favourite way of welcoming a class. Might I also add that, so far not a single student has died due to her predictions. So….."

Professor McGonagall broke off, and they saw that her nostrils had gone white. She went on, more calmly, "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney --"

She stopped again, and then said, in a very matter-of-fact tone, "You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."

The rest of the class wasn't too convinced by it but Hermione certainly looked convinced. They headed towards the Great Hall in silence and began lunch in silence.

"_What's your take on it Gin?" _Harry asked Ginny.

"_A prediction from someone who demanded a plaque announcing her to be a seer……I don't think I am going to be worried." _Ginny replied as she settled in front of Harry at the table.

Ron broke the silence. "Harry have you seen a great black dog anywhere?"

"Err, I think so. I saw one when I ran away from my relatives." Harry replied. Almost instantaneously, Ron dropped his fork loudly onto the plate.

"You have seen the Grim. Once people see the Grim, they generally die within a few hours. A Grim scares the living day-lights out of most people." Ron said.

"Oh please Ron! Then they must be dieing because of fright….." Began Hermione but was interrupted by Ron again.

"You don't know about the Grim Hermione. Our uncle Bilius saw the Grim and died within a few hours. And you saw her predicting about Neville's cup too. She was right about it." Ron said.

Suddenly Harry realized that Hermione had obviously attended Divination too. "Whoa—whoa, hold up. Are you telling us that Hermione physically attended Divination Ron?"

"Yes, of course. Why?" Ron replied as Harry noticed that Hermione was looking dead nervous now.

"Care to explain Hermione as to how you were in two places at the same time?" Harry asked addressing Hermione.

If she looked nervous before, Hermione was looking beyond nervous now. "I—I can't tell you that." Noticing the raised eye-brows all around Hermione tried to explain it a bit further. "It's—It's not like I don't want to or wouldn't. But Professor McGonagall has made me promise, not to reveal to anyone about it. And if I tell you, it's not like I will be breaking a simple promise or simply a school-rule. But I will be breaking the law and I really don't want to do that. So please, please, PLEASE say that you understand." Hermione literally begged.

"_Any idea what she is talking about Gin?" _Harry asked mentally and then assured Hermione. "It's perfectly all-right Hermione we understand why you can't tell us and we can't hold it against you. Trust us okay?" Harry added and then elbowed Ron in the ribs as the look on his face was anything but understanding. But a moment later he too, closely followed by Ginny assured Hermione that it was all-right.

"_No, I have got absolutely no idea. But I think that the twins might have some but asking them is a rather big risk." _Ginny replied to the earlier question even as she drank from a goblet. The two had gotten really good at 'mentally' talking while literally multi-tasking. It started as a ruse to ensure that no-one suspected anything but now was rather useful as they could actually carry on parallel conversations at the same time.

"_Yeah, I suppose so. You never know what they might end-up saying to whom." _Harry said even as he was chewing.

"_By the way, where are we on the 'secret-library' issue?"_

"_Haven't asked Chucky yet. But will do it before dinner. I only have Care of Magical Creatures now and haven't got any homework. Not even from Arithmancy." _Harry sent back as the trio got up and started heading towards Hagrid's hut. _"Which class do you have next?"_

"_Defense, let's see how Professor Lupin stands up to Lockhart."_

"_You mean lets see 'how' much better he is than Lockhart." _Harry sent back and he was rewarded with a small laugh from Ginny. Hearing Ginny's laughter still made Harry's heart soar.

Harry made his way down to Hagrid's hut a little behind Ron and Hermione who were arguing over something again. As he looked over towards Hagrid's hut, he realized that they would be having their classes with Slytherins and that made Harry groan loudly. Ginny had told him that after the announcement of Hagrid's appointment, it were the Slytherins who had looked the most displeased. The Slytherins especially Malfoy would try and ensure that something went wrong during Hagrid's first class. He would have to keep a close watch on them.

"_Good call Harry." _Ginny sent over the link.

"_Hey, don't you have a lesson to attend?_

"_The lesson starts only when the Professor enters the class and starts teaching."_

"_Whatever. I have got to go. Hagrid seems rather impatient to start his first class." _Harry said as he jogged over to join Ron and Hermione. Hagrid welcomed them to his class and then led them towards a paddock near the forest's edge.

"Well, since Harry's told yer all about how to open the books, I will just get the magical creatures now. Hold on for a moment." Hagrid said and he went off into the forest.

"God, this place is going to the dogs," said Malfoy rather loudly and attracting the attention of the entire class. "That oaf teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him."

Almost automatically the rest of the class surprisingly even Hermione looked at Harry waiting for him to respond. "Malfoy, your father has been sacked from the Board of Governors of Hogwarts. Sacked for his utter incompetence and inadequacies. Or did you forget that?" Harry replied very coldly and most certainly had the desired result. Malfoy simply couldn't come-up with a reply to that and settled for simply glaring at Harry. Harry knew that Malfoy was sacked for a hell a lot of different reasons but incompetence sounded much better.

"Oooooooh!" squealed Lavender Brown, pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock.

Trotting toward them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Harry had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-colored beaks and large, brilliantly, orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.

"Gee up, there!" he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence. "Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hand at them. "Beautiful, aren' they?"

Harry could sort of see what Hagrid meant. Once you got over the first shock of seeing something that was, half horse, half bird, you started to appreciate the hippogriffs' gleaming coats, changing smoothly from feather to hair, each of them a different color: stormy gray, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black.

"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer --"

No one seemed to want to. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, however, approached the fence cautiously.

"Now, firs 'thing yeh gotta know abou' hippogriff is, they're proud," said Hagrid. "Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't ever insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do. They will not hesitate to attack yer, if you insult them."

Harry noticed that Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't listening; they were talking in an undertone and Harry had a nasty feeling they were plotting how best to disrupt the lesson. He would have to keep a very close look on them.

"Yeh always wait fer the hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid continued. "It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt. Right -- who wants ter go first?"

"I'll do it," said Harry.

There was an intake of breath from behind him, and both Lavender and

Parvati whispered, "Oooh, no, Harry, remember what Professor Trelawney said!"

Harry ignored them. He climbed over the paddock fence.

"Good man, Harry!" roared Hagrid. "Right then -- let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak."

He untied one of the chains, pulled the gray hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. The class on the other side of the paddock seemed to be holding its breath. Malfoy's eyes were narrowed maliciously.

"Easy now, Harry," said Hagrid quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink... Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much..."

Harry's eyes immediately began to water, but he didn't shut them. Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head and was staring at Harry with one fierce orange eye. 

"Tha's it," said Hagrid. "Tha's it, Harry... now, bow."

Harry didn't feel much like exposing the back of his neck to Buckbeak, but he did as he was told. He gave a short bow and then looked up. The hippogriff was still staring haughtily at him. It didn't move.

"Ah," said Hagrid, sounding worried. "Right -- back away, now, Harry, easy does it"

But then, to Harry's enormous surprise, the hippogriff suddenly bent its scaly front knees and sank into what was an unmistakable bow.

"Well done, Harry!" said Hagrid, ecstatic. "Right -- yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"

Feeling that a better reward would have been to back away, Harry moved slowly toward the hippogriff and reached out toward it. He patted the beak several times and the hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though enjoying it. The class broke into applause, all except for Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were looking deeply disappointed.

"Righ' then, Harry," said Hagrid. "I reckon he might' let yeh ride him!" This was more than Harry had bargained for. He was used to a broomstick; but he wasn't sure a hippogriff would be quite the same.

"Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint," said Hagrid, "an' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that..."

Harry put his foot on the top of Buckbeak's wing and hoisted himself onto its back. Buckbeak stood up. Harry wasn't sure where to hold on; everything in front of him was covered with feathers.

"Go on, then'" roared Hagrid, slapping the hippogriffs hindquarters. Without warning, twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of Harry; he just had time to seize the hippogriff around the neck before he was soaring upward. It was nothing like a broomstick, and Harry knew which one he preferred; the hippogriff's wings beat uncomfortably on either side of him, catching him under his legs and making him feel he was about to be thrown off; the glossy feathers slipped under his fingers and he didn't dare get a stronger grip; instead of the smooth action of his Nimbus Two Thousand, he now felt himself rocking backward and forward as the hindquarters of the hippogriff rose and fell with its wings.

Buckbeak flew him once around the paddock and then headed back to the ground; this was the bit Harry had been dreading; he leaned back as the smooth neck lowered, feeling he was going to slip off over the beak, then felt a heavy thud as the four ill-assorted feet hit the ground. Harry just managed to hold on and push himself straight again.

"Good work, Harry!" roared Hagrid as everyone except Malfoy, Crabbe, and

Goyle cheered. "Okay, who else wants a go?"

Emboldened by Harry's success, the rest of the class now enthusiastically approached the remaining Hippogriffs. Harry moved towards where Ron and Hermione were bowing before another Hippogriff and he immediately regretted that as Malfoy approached Buckbeak. Giving an apologetic wave to Ron and Hermione Harry turned around and started heading back towards Buckbeak.

"This has to be very easy," Malfoy drawled, as Harry nearer and nearer. "I knew it must have been, if Potter could do it... I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he said to the hippogriff. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"

Harry was only about five feet away from Malfoy and he groaned loudly. Malfoy had insulted Buckbeak. Harry had a vague good idea what was to come next and he knew that Malfoy better not be anywhere near the Hippogriff. He didn't really care about Malfoy but he didn't want Malfoy to spoil Hagrid's class due to it. Even as that thought finished evolving in his mind he saw Buckbeak starting to raise his talons. Harry took a couple of quick running steps and then literally jumped between Malfoy and the talons heading straight for Malfoy.

Harry felt the steely talons pierce his back. For a few moments he felt nothing but just Buckbeak withdrawing the talons from his back as a moment later Hagrid wrestled Buckbeak back into his collar, but Harry noticed that Buckbeak didn't protest at all but was actually looking ashamed if Hippogriffs could look ashamed and then the pain hit. It was white-hot searing pain and Harry couldn't help but give out a loud guttural scream. He was in very, very, very deep pain and the world around him seemed to fade out of his perspective as the only thing that he could feel was the pain. Out of the haze of pain, he heard Ginny frantically call him over their link and he knew that he would have to reply back or risk their bond coming into the open as Ginny would surely run out of her class.

"_Am hurt Ginny, but I think that Hagrid is getting me to the Hospital Wing." _Harry sent back as he also felt the up and down motion as if someone was carrying him._ "So don't worry and don't suddenly run out of the class or something or our bond will come out in the open."_

"_But Harry, you are in tremendous pain." _Ginny's tone was rather agitated.

"_YES! But you can't help me. Only Madame Pomfrey can. So please don't run out of Defense." _ Harry sent back desperately.

"_Okay but I am going to be in the Hospital Wing immediately. Only ten minutes to go. Please don't let something happen to you, Harry." _Ginny sent desperately. But by then Harry could do nothing more than simply send her a few mental nudges as he started feeling dizzy and the pain seemed to have multiplied a few times over. A moment later Harry felt darkness overcome him.

Harry slowly started feeling. It was almost like the last time when he was coming out of come. He just hoped that he hadn't been in a coma this time. 

"_No you weren't in a coma you noble, idiotic……" _Came Ginny's highly emotional voice and then Harry felt her hug him and he opened his eyes.

"_It's all-right Gin, I am all-right now. C'mon now please don't cry. I can't bear to see you cry." _Harry said. 

Ginny did indeed stop crying and handed him his glasses. Harry put them on and looked around. It was dark outside. So obviously he had been out unconscious for quite some time. He spotted his invisibility cloak, lying on the chair on which Ginny had been sitting.

"What time is it, Gin?" Harry asked verbally as Ginny finally released his good side and held his hand before settling back onto the chair.

"It's just after 11'O clock. You were not supposed to come out of unconsciousness for at least a day. Tomorrow evening was her earliest guess."

"Err, why such long? I mean Madame Pomfrey can mend wounds pretty easily." Harry asked.

"You lost a lot of blood by the time Hagrid could get you here. Then your body went into shock or something." Ginny paused before continuing mentally. _"It was a horrible—horrible—horrible feeling Harry, not being able to sense your presence. Please don't do that to me again, Harry." _Ginny said as she started crying again.

"I won't Ginny, I promise. Please don't cry now. It really hurts to see you so sad like this. Please stop." Harry pleaded and a few moments later Ginny did stop crying. "What happened after I was brought here anyways?"

"Well most of the class followed you in here and then everyone was thrown out by Professor McGonagall. Madame Pomfrey barely had time to look up from you. Then Malfoy turned up saying that he too had dislocated a shoulder due to you jumping on you and demanded punishment for you. Unfortunately for him, Professor McGonagall had already heard the entire story from Hermione and Hagrid about how the Hippogriff attacked only because Malfoy had insulted him and you had actually for some stupid noble reason jumped in between them. Needless to say, she wasn't impressed and deducted 50-points from Slytherin and handed him a week-long detention for endangering another student's life. And surprisingly, Madame Pomfrey didn't look too pleased with Malfoy either. I think she kind of likes you." Ginny said the last part playfully.

"Yeah, who doesn't? The arse was trying to disrupt Hagrid from the beginning. If Buckbeak had injured him, he would have made a big deal out of it and gotten Hagrid sacked or something. I couldn't have allowed that to happen." Harry answered the question on top of Ginny's mind.

Harry sat up on the bed and realized that surprisingly he felt absolutely fine. He felt a bit weak, but that was all. "What happened to Hagrid later?"

"No-idea. He wasn't at dinner according to Hermione and he was quite upset and sad. When he was waiting to see what would happen to you he was really going to pieces mentioning how it was his mistake that James and Lily's son was suffering so much and all." Ginny replied and then she looked a bit uncomfortable before continuing. "Hermione also mentioned that Hagrid apparently resigned as a Professor."

Harry sat up straighter in his bed. He needed to go and address Hagrid's issues and once Hagrid lost his confidence; it would be very difficult for him to conduct any further classes. He swung his legs over the bed.

"What are you doing Harry?" Ginny asked suspiciously.

"Going to meet Hagrid. If he loses his confidence it will be very difficult for him to regain it and then I think that his career as a Professor would be rather short-lived and I would really like if that wasn't the case." Harry replied verbally. _"And before you complain, you know that I am feeling absolutely fine. You can feel it too." _He added mentally.

"Can you walk till there?" Ginny asked even though it was clear that she agreed about the being all-right part.

"Yeah of course, I can." Harry replied confidently as he out on his sneakers.

"But what he is already asleep?"

"Would you be able to sleep if your first class resulted in a student being sent to the infirmary, unconscious for perhaps a day or more?" Harry asked and Ginny simply nodded after a moment.

Harry and Ginny both got under the invisibility cloak and they set off towards Hagrid's hut. Harry knew that the main doors would be closed at this time of the night, so they took an alternate secret route that opened at the back of the castle but bypassed the doors in the Great Hall. They removed the invisibility cloak after reaching outside and a few minutes later they found themselves outside Hagrid's hut.

They could hear Fang's barking and Harry thought that he also heard some talking going on. He tried pushing the door but it was locked from the inside. So he began banging on the door and yelling. "OPEN THE DOOR HAGRID. I KNOW THAT YOU ARE INSIDE AND I WANT TO TALK TO YOU."

"That was stealthy Harry. You woke up the dead basilisk too." Ginny retorted.

Harry ignored her for the time being." STOP BLAMING YOURSELF HAGRID AND BLAME MALFOY. BLAMING SOMEBOY ELSE ALWAYS WORKS LIKE A CHARM. TRUST ME………." Harry's yelling was interrupted by the opening of the door but instead of Hagrid standing in the door; it was Remus Lupin who was standing in the doorway.

Harry spluttered for a moment at the unexpected person in the doorway before regaining some control. "Err, good-evening Professor Lupin. I—we err wanted to see Hagrid."

Remus Lupin had a look of intense surprise written large over his face. "I surmised that much." He replied. "Come on in. Aren't you supposed to be unconscious until tomorrow evening?" He asked as he closed the door behind Harry and Ginny.

"Err, yeah well, I guess I am a sort of lucky and all." Harry replied awkwardly.

"Survived the killing curse at the age of one. Somehow experienced magical exhaustion and then woke up within three hours of the incident and then turned up to play Quidditch within the next 24 hours. Killed a basilisk and then become probably the only person ever to survive the bite of a basilisk. Yeah lucky. More like a walking and talking miracle." Ginny added playfully.

"Err, yeah that too." Harry said embarrassed as he turned around to glare at Ginny. _"What in the world was that for?"_

"_What you look cute when you are embarrassed." _Ginny sent back impishly making Harry feel even more embarrassed.

Harry settled for shaking his head as he looked around the hut once more and saw Hagrid staring at him with wide eyes. This hair and beard were all messes up and there was a huge tankard in his hand which smelled like some kind of liquor to Harry. 

"_It is Firewhisky I think." _Explained Ginny.

"Guess, must be a record. A teacher lasting fer only a day. I resigned as a teacher." Hagrid said.

Harry couldn't believe it as he walked towards Hagrid who was sitting with his face pointed at his shoes. "Come on Hagrid. Why in Merlin's name are you beating yourself up for? You had told us that Hippogriff's attack if we verbally insult them. It was Malfoy's mistake that he wasn't listening to you and instead plotting on somehow disrupting the class. Please get that ridiculous look off your face and smile for once. It was a brilliant lesson until Malfoy messed it up and you know it……."

"Naah, it was too difficult fer a first lesson. The Board of governors think that I should have started with sumthing easy, like flobberworms. I……" Hagrid began but was interrupted by Harry again.

"Oh, please Hagrid. It was a fun-lesson and you know it. You are letting one incident cloud your judgment. One incident which you could not have done anything to prevent. C'mon Hagrid. This is what Malfoy would want to happen to you. He would want you to resign. But you can't let that happen. Next class you will teach us something interesting and you can because you are the best as far as magical-animals are concerned. You can nurse an unicorn and a damned dragon for heavens sake. You ARE the best candidate for the Care of Magical Creatures' Professor." Harry implore firmly.

Hagrid did not reply for almost an entire minute before he nodded. "Yer not gonna press charges against me or Buckbeak are yer?"

Harry did not reply but frowned and snatched the tankard out of Hagrid's hands and smelled it. "What! Are you mad? Didn't you just listen to what I said? And what am I going to do by pressing charges? And you are not drinking this again, Hagrid. It is obviously making your brain work really slowly. Now c'mon please say something meaningful, like I will be back teaching from tomorrow and I will teach more interesting animals." Harry implored.

"All-right, yer are right. It was not my mistake. I had told yer all not ter insult Buckbeak. I will continue ter teach." Hagrid got up from his enormous arm-chair. "I will just get cleaned." He said as he left the hut.

Harry nodded and emptied the tankard outside the window and settled down on the couch when he realized that a Professor was sitting in front of him and Ginny and he were out of the bounds at 11:30am. They were royally screwed. They were not simply out of bounds but out of the castle. The detentions and the points were going to be monumental. But surprisingly Remus Lupin was smiling in Harry's direction. Harry also remembered that he needed to apologize to Professor Lupin.

"Err, sorry for not having a 'welcoming' banner for you. It's just that—Hagrid was not even allowed to do magic until last year and now he is a Professor. So…." Harry ranted for about half a minute before Remus Lupin interrupted.

"It's all-right Harry. I was personally quite delighted about Hagrid being appointed as a Professor too. He was always a good person. And it's all-right you hardly even know me and I dare-say that I am more than happy that you haven't welcomed me as you welcomed Gilderoy Lockhart." Remus Lupin said affably.

"I am afraid I don't know what you are talking about, Sir." Harry replied. "Though personally I have a feeling that either Snape—err Professor Snape or Professor McGonagall were responsible for that. I know for a fact that they were both err repulsed by Lockhart. I can assure you that I have no idea how to bewitch Cornish Pixies." Harry replied evenly.

"_We should prank a Marauder actually Harry. But Professor Lupin is quite good, brilliant actually. Even the twins said that he was the best Defense Professor that they ever had." _Ginny sent through the link.

"_Yeah, maybe we will tell him that his map is incomplete. That would be a prank enough." _Harry sent back as Professor laughed over what Harry had said before replying.

"If you say so, Harry." Remus Lupin paused before continuing. "This was a very nice thing that you did today. Very matured and you managed to convince Hagrid when Professor Dumbledore had failed. I can see why Hagrid is so fond of you." He said warmly. "Though I am sure that once he is in his right senses, he is not going to really appreciate you being out of the castle at 11:30pm." He said as the sound of water was heard from outside the hut. Harry had a feeling that Hagrid had just drowned his head in the huge barrel of water that stood outside.

"And what about you?" Harry asked.

Remus Lupin took one hard look at Harry and then Ginny before replying. "Well, since you did break the rules for a rather noble purpose. I think I will just overlook it this one time. Only this one time however. Though how exactly did you manage to slip out of the castle with the doors locked?"

Harry didn't have any idea as to what he was going to reply to that, but Ginny came to his rescue. "Well Sir, before Harry, the chamber of secrets was just another legendary myth."

Remus Lupin smiled at that as Harry angrily glared at Ginny. "What? It is the truth." Ginny shot back. Harry actually smiled at that as it meant that Ginny was actually talking about the Chamber of Secrets without any feelings of guilt or despair.

"If you say so, Gin." Harry said with a smile.

The next morning Harry woke up again at the crack of dawn. Last night he had managed to convince Ginny to go and sleep in her dorm. He had a feeling that Madame Pomfrey wouldn't have appreciated if she had found Ginny asleep in the infirmary. He got out of the bed and decided to go off jogging. He wasn't feeling tired at all now. There was a pad at the bottom of his bed so Harry scribbled a note on it saying that he was off jogging and then he went to his dorm to retrieve his clothes. Harry replicated the distance of the first day and then headed back to his dorm for a shower. He showered, changed into his robes and went down to the common-room to find Hermione reading again. Only this time it was Potions.

"How do you know that Snape is going to start with Shrinking Potions?" Harry asked as he settled into the couch opposite her.

"Well, I was talking with Hillary Goldman, she is a fourth year and……….HARRY!" Hermione suddenly screamed out as she realized that Harry was supposed to be unconscious until the evening at least. "W—what are you doing being conscious? And out of the infirmary?"

Harry raised his eyebrows in amusement before replying. "Nice way to boost the confidence of a bloke who has just snuck out of the infirmary."

"YOU RAN AWAY FROM THE INFIRMARY!" Hermione screamed out.

"I hate to break it to you Hermione but I think you just woke up the rest of the Gryffindor tower. And I have been conscious since 11'O clock last night. I even went and visited Hagrid last night and he's promised to take back his resignation. As a matter of fact I even went for a jog before returning here. This means that, I am fit as a fiddle to face bloody arse Snape."

"You are crazy." Hermione replied after a minute.

"Thanks. I will take that as a compliment. You up for an early breakfast? I am going, I am ravenous." Harry said with a smile.

"Yeah, I suppose so." Hermione said in a resigned voice. "Someone should accompany you, in case you fall unconscious again or something."

"Oh you really are Miss Positive today." Harry said as he picked up his bag and headed towards the portrait hole. Harry and Hermione reached the Great Hall to find it completely empty and the only thing edible on the house-tables was coffee, tea, milk and sugar. Harry poured himself a cup of coffee and settled on the bench to read about Shrinking Potions, he was sure that Snape would give him grief if he messed up the first Potion of the year. His reading was interrupted by someone screaming his name.

"HARRY POTTER!" Harry looked up to see Madame Pomfrey streaking towards him with the progress-pad in her left hand and her wand in her right and walking right behind with a furious expression on her face was Professor McGonagall. He knew that expression rather well. Simply it meant that he was doomed.

"Good Morning Madame Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall. How are the two of you………" He stopped on noticing the looks of rage which somehow seemed to have intensified in three seconds and also he simply couldn't pull off the 'routine' as the twins could.

"Mr. Potter would you mind explaining this note of yours on your progress-pad?" Madame Pomfrey began the proceedings. "…'Gone Jogging'! WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN? You were supposed to be unconscious until tonight at the least. The potions that I gave you alone would have ensured that. But no, I wake up to find a note on your progress-pad saying that you were out for a jog. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? Your body had lost a great deal of blood and it had gone into shock. For a few moments after you were brought in I was worried that perhaps I wouldn't be able to save you and then you go for a jog. WHAT IN MERLIN"S NAME, WERE YOU THINKING?" Madame Pomfrey finally stopped her angry outburst but more out of lack of breath rather than anything.

"Err, I had to go. I mean I couldn't allow Hagrid to resign because of one silly incident. I mean I jumped in front of the Hippogriff because I knew that Malfoy would have caused problems for Hagrid if anything would have happened to him. Hell he wanted me punished because I pushed him out of the way of the talons. Imagine what he would have tried to do if he would have actually got hurt and last night I learnt that Hagrid had resigned so I had to make sure that he wouldn't resign……." Harry's explanation was cut-short by Professor McGonagall's soft yet firm voice.

"Last night?" She asked with her eyebrows literally in her hair.

Harry knew that he was in for it now. "Err; I have been awake since 11'O clock last night." 

"WHAT!" Madame Pomfrey screamed at the top of her voice. "But that is impossible……forget it. Haul yourself back the infirmary please, Mr. Potter."

"Err…but I am all-right." Harry whined a bit.

"Would you like to undress in front of the entire school, Mr. Potter?" Madame Pomfrey asked and Harry mutely followed her with Professor McGonagall behind him. It was almost as if she was worried that he might run away again. But after an hour of poking Harry in the shoulder and for some reason even the legs and going through at least half a dozen books, Madame Pomfrey gave up.

"I can't find anything wrong with you Potter. Nothing at all. What are you made of? Some kind of evil muggle technology? How do you manage to get well so quickly? This is the second time that you have managed to recover way quickly than you should have." Madame Pomfrey huffed as she sat down on a chair.

Harry wondered if there indeed was some truth to her argument and then he remembered the phoenix tears. "Err do phoenix tears have some kind of you know long term effects? Fawkes cried loads on my wound." Harry said pointing to the wound on his hand.

"_I doubt that Harry, remember the phoenix tears neutralized the basilisk venom. So it's not like the phoenix tears somehow managed to get into your blood-stream or something." _Ginny sent over the link.

"I am afraid I have no idea. Phoenixes are so rare and they give their tears for healing even more rarely, so there is no documented study about their properties. I will run it by some healers in St. Mungos but I am not sure that it will help too much." Madame Pomfrey replied. "You however are unbelievably completely fit and are now officially discharged from the infirmary. Though if you feel even the slightest amounts of nausea or dizziness or if you feel more tired than you should be, please come to me immediately. Do I have your word on that?"

"Yes, Mam absolutely." Harry replied as he put his robes back on and headed towards the exit.

"Kindly wait for a moment Harry." Professor McGonagall called out, making Harry wonder what in world had he done now. "I just want to thank you for talking sense into Hagrid and convincing him to stay on. Thank You." Professor McGonagall said clearly meaning every syllable. "Now I believe that you have Potions in ten minutes, so please do not be late for that."

Harry reached Potions just in time and he was quite glad that he did as Snape for some reason was in an unbelievably vindictive mood and docked ten points from Gryffindor for Neville being late by barely five minutes but did not even caution Malfoy who turned up, with his arm in a sling ten minutes later. They were brewing the Shrinking Potion and it was by far the most complex potion that they had brewed so far. About thirty seconds after Snape had asked them to start brewing; Malfoy spoke up in a drawling voice.

"Sir, I am going to need help cutting the roots due to the injury that Potter inflicted on me."

"Cut, Mr. Malfoy's roots too, Mr. Potter." Snape sneered almost evilly.

Harry looked at Snape in utter surprise. Was Snape such an idiot that he couldn't figure out the Malfoy was faking an injury or was did Snape think that Harry would simply bend over and play along.

"What Sir?" Harry asked. The simple question had quite an effect on the entire class. Harry heard numerous knives being set down on the work-benches as everyone looked up to witness what everyone knew would probably turn into a Hogwarts' legend.

"Are you deaf Potter? I said cut Malfoy's roots for him as he is injured. Due to you, I might add."

Harry simply glared at Snape and Snape glared back too. Suddenly Harry felt pressure on his mind and he knew that Snape was using legilimency on him. But he felt as if there was an invisible wall around his thoughts and Snape was banging on it again and again and again but unsuccessfully. Harry panicked for a moment as he realized that Snape might actually end up learning about his and Ginny's bond but a moment later he knew that his fears were unfounded as Snape continued the pounding on the wall that Harry felt around his thoughts but the wall was impenetrable. But Snape wasn't withdrawing. 

"Spiculum!" Harry shot out a simple stinging spell aimed dead at Snape's eyes and immediately the pounding on his mind stopped as Snape recoiled. Snape's hands were massaging the small spot between his eyes, where the stinging spell had hit and a green boil was developing. A gasp was heard through the class as everyone realized what was had just happened. Apparently a student had intentionally with no apparent instigation had attacked a Professor. It was only a Stinging spell but it was a spell directed deliberately at a Professor.

"I will have you EXPELLED for this Potter." Snape said coldly but the glee was quite apparent in his voice. Almost instantly Harry heard gasps from the Gryffindor side and some sporadic almost half claps from the Slytherin side. But Harry was rather calm.

"On what grounds Sir?" He asked doubly calmly.

"For an unprovoked attack on a Professor Potter." Snape sneered out.

Harry did not reply immediately but simply smiled calmly confusing the entire class. "Would you like a dictionary to read up on the meaning of unprovoked Sir?"

The sneer on Snape's face disappeared completely to be replaced by an unreadable expression. The last sentence didn't hold any weight for the rest of the class but it was loaded for Ron and Hermione who were now staring at Snape waiting for his answer.

"Get back to your Potion. ALL OF YOU." Snape shouted and then stormed out of the class-room and Harry knew that he was on the legend books of Hogwarts again as the only student ever to have cursed a Professor and gotten away with it. The rest of the class was spent in absolute silence. The only noise was the chopping of the ingredients and then the sound of the flames. An hour later most of the students had finished the Shrinking Potion and bottled it for inspection. Snape had returned with two minutes to go for the bell and asked the students to leave the flasks on his desk and then he stormed out of the class-room without even waitingof the students had finished the Shrinking Potion and bottled it for inspection.t at the middle rn into a H for the bell to ring.

No sooner did the bell ring; Harry was out of the class-room closely followed by Ron and Hermione. "He was doing it again wasn't he?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, he was." Harry replied.

"But did you have to curse him, Harry?" Hermione asked. But before Harry could reply Ron replied and another argument broke out between the two.

"_Ginny, where are you?"_

"_Am in double Transfiguration, Harry. Why what happened." _Ginny sent back.

_I just cursed Snape and then got away with it." _Harry replied and then told her the whole story.

"_Why is he so intent on breaking into your thoughts?" _Ginny asked.

"_I think that he generally does passively try and read everyone but since he couldn't read mine I guess that pissed him off." _Harry replied. _"But why am I suddenly immune to it? Do you think that the bond has something to do with it?"_

"_Maybe." _Ginny replied cautiously. _"But we will have to talk later, I can't concentrate on the spell and Professor McGonagall is giving me angry looks already."_

After lunch Harry the third year Gryffindors had defense and the trio headed there with much anticipation. The twins had so far given their seal of approval to Professor Lupin and so had Ginny and the three were rather anxious to sit through a meaningful defense class.

Professor Lupin wasn't there when they arrived at his first Defense against the Dark Arts lesson. They all sat down, took out their books, quills, and parchment, and were talking when he finally entered the room. Lupin smiled vaguely and placed his tatty old briefcase on the teacher's desk. He was as shabby as ever but looked healthier than he had on the train, as though he had had a few square meals.

"Good afternoon," he said. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags? Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands. Kindly follow me after you are all done."

After a few curious looks, everyone took out their wands and followed Professor Lupin. He led them along the deserted corridor and around a corner, where the first thing they saw was Peeves the Poltergeist, who was floating upside down in midair and stuffing the nearest keyhole with chewing gum. Peeves didn't look up until Professor Lupin was two feet away; then he wiggled his curly-toed feet and broke into song.

"Loony, loopy Lupin," Peeves sang. "Loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy

Lupin --"

But then Peeves stopped when he spotted Harry and Ron in the students. He swooped down with great speed towards Harry and stopped barely a few inches away from him. Inertia didn't quite seem to affect him. "Scarhead your watch, the watch that Scarhead gifted Peeves is broken. Peeves was wearing it and taking good care of it but then it stopped. The hands don't move. Now Peeves can't tell time. Please help Peeves." Peeves said pointing to his wrist. He had said all that so quickly that Harry needed a moment to register everything.

"It must be broken, Peeves. I had told you that it was a cheap watch and I don't think that it can be repaired." Harry said well aware that his friendship with Peeves was going to become another folk-lore in Hogwarts before long. Peeves, meanwhile was looking rather disappointed. "Okay listen Peeves; you can have this one if you like it. This one will probably survive longer than the first one." Harry said handing out Hermione's watch to Peeves who looked at it with wide eyes and then immediately grabbed it and strapped it onto his wrists.

"Thank you, Scarhead. Scarhead is indeed generous a high-minded and munificent. Peeves will always be in your honour's debt." Peeves said as he went through the wall watch and all.

Harry looked at his class-mates to find them staring at him open-mouthed and with wide eyes. "What?"

"That was my watch, Harry." Hermione said indignantly.

"Yeah it was your watch, now it belongs to Peeves." Harry said as Professor Lupin had begun moving again with a small shake of his head. "C'mon you hated that watch. Listen I will gift you a good one for Christmas, okay?" Harry said and Hermione seemed mollified.

"You used to wear a ladies' watch Harry!" Dean asked amused.

"No, it only belonged to Hermione. I had nicked it. Now shut-up. I already have had a long day." Harry snapped as he started walking quickly.

Professor Lupin had led them to the staff-room which was empty except for a chair which was occupied by Snape of all the persons. He looked around as the class filed in. His eyes were glittering and there was a nasty sneer playing around his mouth. As Professor Lupin came in and made to close the door behind him, Snape said, "Leave it open; Lupin. I'd rather not witness this."

He got to his feet and strode past the class, his black robes billowing behind him. At the doorway he turned on his heel and said, "Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains The Brat who lived. He goes great lengths to disrupt all classes and his big-head barely fits inside the hallowed halls of Hogwarts."

"Just because you are so inept and incompetent enough that you can't get into that head, does not mean that that is a big-head, Sir." Harry spat out almost immediately drawing gasps and groans from all the assembled students. He glanced a look around and realized that most of the students were rather confused while Professor Lupin had a calculating look on his face even as he stared at Snape.

"That will be 100-points from Gryffindor for your cheek Potter." Snape sneered after a moment and then slammed the door behind him.

"Now, then," said Professor Lupin, beckoning the class toward the end of the room, where there was nothing but an old wardrobe where the teachers kept their spare robes. As Professor Lupin went to stand next to it, the wardrobe gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall.

"Nothing to worry about," said Professor Lupin calmly because a few people had jumped backward in alarm. "There's a boggart in there." Most people seemed to feel that this was something to worry about.

"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," said Professor Lupin. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks -- I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. These two moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave them to give my third years some practice. We would be practicing with only one, right now."

"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is; what is a boggart?" Hermione put up her hand.

"It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione glowed. "So the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears.

"This means," said Professor Lupin, "That we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?" 

Harry wasn't really concentrating on the lesson but he had heard the question and read enough about boggarts to answer it."Er -- because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?" 

"Precisely," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione put her hand down, looking a little disappointed. "It's always best to have com pany when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that very mistake -- tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening.

"The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing.

"We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please .. Riddikulus!"

"Riddikulus!" said the class together. 

"Good," said Professor Lupin. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Harry."

Harry who really wasn't concentrating was elbowed in the ribs by Ron and he stepped forward. Professor Lupin beckoned him towards the cupboard and then bent down. "Your greatest fear is not Voldemort is it?" He asked very softly so that only Harry could hear.

Harry was surprised at question and even more surprised that Professor Lupin said the name. Harry thought over the question for a moment before answering. Was Voldemort really scary? No he wasn't. Even if he was, Harry certainly didn't fear him the most. "I don't think so."

Professor Lupin smiled and then led him towards the centre of the circle that the rest of the students had formed and then addressed him loudly again. "So what do you fear the most, Harry?"

Harry thought over it and he really couldn't come up with any answer. He had thought of the dementors at first but he realized that they could be fought off. That certainly didn't make them his deepest fear. "I really don't know, Sir." Harry replied honestly.

"Well that might present a problem. To completely get rid of a boggart you have to picture it such that it will make you laugh and then say the spell. But ifyou are not sure about your deepest fear….." Professor Lupin trailed off.

"I will think of something, Sir. I think that I can manage to think quickly on my feet." Harry replied firmly.

"Very well." Professor Lupin said after a moment. "One two – three -- now!" A jet of sparks shot from the end of Professor Lupin's wand and hit the doorknob. The wardrobe burst open. 

Unbelievably Ginny stepped out of the wardrobe. Harry couldn't believe it. Ginny was his greatest fear. For some reason he had a feeling that this wasn't the complete thing. Harry heard laughter in the background. Sure enough a moment later another crack was heard and there was Tom Riddle standing next to Ginny even as she collapsed to the ground. "She is going to die Potter. You will not be able to save her. You have failed her."

The laughter had completely stopped and everyone including Professor Lupin was frozen and staring open-mouthed at the scene unfolding in front of them. Harry was frozen too. He had no idea what to do. How was he supposed to convert something like this into humour? Then suddenly Tom Riddle started giving out that high-pitched laughter, the laughter that Harry had come to associate with Voldemort and he was shaken out of the shock-induced stupor.

"_Harry it's all just an illusion. I am very much alive. C'mon you can fight it." _Same Ginny voice at the right time. She seemed to have noticed Harry's sudden anxiety.

If the laughter had shaken him out of the stupor, Ginny's voice had made him completely alert. Out of the corner of the eye he saw Professor Lupin moving to distract the Boggart but Harry raised his hand which effectively stopped him. Harry though and thought quickly. Laughter was a positive emotion. So it need not necessarily be a humorous thought that would make the boggart go away. It simply had to be a positive thought. Harry raked his brain for his most positive thought. The time when Ginny and he had confessed their love for each other and the Ginny's feeling of love that had washed over him through the link was certainly a positive moment. He brought out that memory and all the feelings associated with it to the top of his mind and then went for the spell even as Tom Riddle started advancing towards him.

"Riddikulus!" Harry said with firm determination and unyielding intent and a moment later the boggart exploded, burst into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke, and was gone.

Harry let out a huge sigh of relief as he simply sat down onto the ground; it certainly had been an emotionally draining 30 seconds for him. He was brought back to reality by the sound of applause that was going round the class as all the third-year Gryffindors started clapping.

"_That was brilliant Harry. You can master your fears Harry." _Came Ginny's voice.

"_Thanks couldn't have done it without you, Gin." _Harry sent back as he got up.

"That was quite a performance Harry. Not exactly the orthodox method of dealing with a boggart but I suppose you chose to go with positive feelings instead of humorous feelings didn't you." Professor Lupin asked and continued after Harry nodded. "Well I think that certainly deserves 50-pints to Gryffindor. Well done, indeed. Now the rest of us shall continue with the second Boggart while you can rest Harry as you really looked tired." Professor Lupin said.

Harry simply nodded and then settled on a chair nearby as he watched his class-mates battle their fears using various means of laughter. He couldn't believe it. His biggest fear was losing Ginny to death and it had almost happened once before. He promised himself that he would do everything in his power to make sure that that never happened.


	19. Black Halloween and The Patronus

After the story of Harry cursing Snape and getting away with it spread through the castle, Harry became an even bigger hero than he already was and that was saying something. Of course many students, especially the older ones refused to believe that Harry had actually cursed Snape but it was rather difficult to refute the story of 15 students belonging to both Gryffindor and Slytherin. 

The end of the week couldn't come any quickly for Harry as he was now being positively harassed for the 'true' story of what happened between Snape and him. By then Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had taken to again eating meals in the kitchens to escape all the scrutiny from the rest of the school.

On Friday evening, during dinner Ginny suddenly realized that Harry never really asked Chucky about his Secret-Library theory. _"Harry, you never asked Chucky about that secret-library did you?"_

"_No, I didn't." _Harry replied.

"_What are you waiting for, Potter?" _Ginny sent back.

"Err, Chucky can I ask you something?" Harry asked Chucky who always insisted on being within earshot whenever the four had meals in the kitchens.

"Of course, Scarhead can ask Chucky anything he desires." Chucky replied.

"Well, we were wondering if there is some kind of secret library or something in Hogwarts. Because we were searching for a certain book that we know was used by students about fifteen years ago but we can't find it in the library anymore. So do you know anything about a secret-library or something?" Harry asked.

Chucky did not reply immediately but looked very thoughtful. After a few moments he gave them a half smile before replying. "Scarhead please meet me on the seventh floor near the enormous tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy attempting to train trolls for the ballet. Chucky will tell you further when Scarhead and his friends get there."

Half an hour later the four friends could not believe their eyes and their minds simply couldn't wrap around the idea that they literally had never-ending supply of knowledge at a distance of only about three laps in front of the tapestry of Barnabas. Hermione was literally hyperventilating at the thought of being in such close quarters with a supply of unlimited books. They only had to walk three times in front of the tapestry and the room that they were concentrating on materialized in front of them. As far as Harry was concerned, this was bigger than discovering the Chamber of Secrets.

The only disadvantage was that, they couldn't actually take away anything from the room. No sooner would they carry out a book, it would disappear out of their hands. They had got their books but they would have to read them right there, unless they could actually find some sort of 'photocopying spell' that Hermione insisted should have been invented by someone.

"I hate to break it to you guys but we really need to head back to the common-room or we are going to miss the curfew." Ron said about fifteen minutes before the curfew and the rest had to agree and started trudging out of the Room of Requirement.

"Don't be so devastated Hermione, it is still going to be there tomorrow." Harry said on noticing the looks on Hermione's face.

"_So, Mr. Potter are we going to try the Animagus transformation?" _Ginny asked on the way back. _"I have no doubts that we will have enough guidance for it in there."_

"_It's dangerous and illegal to try it without proper supervision and while we are under-age. According to Professor McGonagall we are allowed to try it only after we reach adulthood." _Harry sent back.

"_Didn't Ragnok say something about us being legally adults now?" _Ginny counter-argued. Harry had a feeling that she really wanted to try out the Animagus transformation.

"_Why do you really want to try it Gin?" _Harry asked. _"If we are caught, it will be curtains for the secrecy of our bond. We could be in trouble hell your parents could be in trouble, you are still a minor."_

Ginny raised her eyebrows dangerously and Harry knew that he was in a bit of trouble. _"Don't try to emotionally blackmail me Harry. It doesn't work. And as Ragnok said aren't we technically underage minors anymore. On top of that you are the Boy-who-Lived and as your wife I sincerely doubt that anybody would try and cause us any trouble."_

The fact that Ginny and he were married suddenly hit Harry like a sack of bricks. He didn't feel any different towards Ginny than he had felt earlier. He still somehow knew that he loved her, but that was all. He had hardly acted upon it. Ginny hadn't followed his thoughts exactly but she seemed to have picked up the gist of his thoughts.

"_Are you regretting the bond Harry?" _Ginny asked bringing Harry out of his thoughts.

"_What could ever make you think like that Gin?" _Harry stopped and said while looking straight into Ginny's eyes.

"_B—But you were thinking……" _Ginny began but Harry interrupted her.

"_I was thinking that ever since we have, you know, known that err we love each other, we just haven't done anything to express it. I have known that I love you ever since I had first seen you outside the platform. I don't know how but I simply knew that I loved you. Then for two years I had no idea what to do about it. First you were not here and then you were avoiding me like the plague. But now that I know that you love me too I am not acting on it or anything and I feel as if I am betraying our love. I mean we haven't done anything that a couple should perhaps be doing. I mean I don't even know what I or 'we' should be doing. It's just all rather confusing." _Harry finished just as they were a corridor away from the portrait of the Fat-Lady.

Ginny stopped and took Harry's hands in her own and this time she gazed straight into the eyes of Harry and then smiled. _"Are you sure we are not doing anything that a 'couple' as you labeled us should be doing?"_

"_I don't know. What are couples supposed to do?" _Harry asked.

"_Let me assure you Harry, we are most certainly doing things that a couple ought to be doing. We are getting to know each other better. We are getting closer together, well since we share thoughts we can't get any closer but we are. We care a lot about each other, I certainly do and I can feel that you do. Anyways you care a lot about each and every of your friend. Anyways we are doing things that we are both comfortable doing. When we are both comfortable taking things to the 'next' level as the 'cliché' goes we will. Don't fret over it. Okay?" _Ginny finished her speech.

"_How the hell did you become so wise?" _Harry asked.

Ginny only smiled in reply as the two made their way towards the Gryffindor common-room with a few minutes still left for curfew to begin.

Harry and Ginny spent the next few days in the Room of Requirement drawing up notes on the charm for fighting rather repelling off the dementors. The charm was known as the Patronus Charm and apparently it was quite difficult. It wasn't even taught in school and was only mentioned in passing in an NEWT textbook and had only theoretical significance for the exam as even most adult wizards were unable to perform it successfully.

The Patronus charm was a kind of anti- dementor -- a guardian that acted as a shield between a person and the dementor and it was unique o every person who cast it but invariably it always was some kind of an animal. To cast it you needed force of mind and also needed to concentrate on a happy memory. The incantation was _Expecto Patronum _and the caster had to concentrate on the happy memory while casting it.

"All-right Harry time to try out the spell." Ginny said after three days of research later. They had tried to cover all their bases before actually attempting the charm. The last thing that Harry wanted was some kind of an accident. They had taken too much time to read up on the Patronus charm, but with Hermione having way too much homework and rarely making it out of the 'public-library' Harry was rather hampered as neither he nor Ginny was a researcher. They had invited Ron to come along but he decided to give Hermione company otherwise she would be left all-alone.

"Yeah, let's try it." Harry said as he drew out his wand and took a deep breath. He had decided that his happiest memory easily was that day in Diagon Alley in when he had learn about the Soul Bond and more importantly had also discovered that Ginny loved him too. Taking another Deep breath Harry went for it.

"**Expecto Patronum**!" Harry said the incantation and almost immediately what looked like a block of white almost translucent mist came out of his wand and formed a sort of barrier in front of him. But Harry struggled to maintain that mist. He could almost feel the mist drawing energy from him and no sooner did he feel it Harry dropped the shield and fell to his knees panting.

"Actually that is supposed to be a good first attempt Harry." Ginny said as she too came and sat down next to him.

"Yeah whatever." Came Harry's disappointed reply.

"C'mon Harry don't be such a wet-blanket. You read the books too. You were not supposed to get anything but a simple mist at first." Ginny tried to reassure Harry.

"Yeah, let's try it again. I will ….." Harry began but was interrupted by Ginny.

"Don't try anything different Harry. You are not supposed to get it on the first or the second try. There is a reason why it is not even taught in Hogwarts."

Harry nodded and began practicing again. But three weeks later Harry was still stuck on the block of white mist. The only difference was that the block of white mist had become translucent after some days of practice and then practically opaque. It had also changed it's colour from white to silver to solid-silver. But it still refused to morph itself into the shape of an animal. Harry frequently almost willed the mist to morph into an animal but it remained unchanged and after about half an hour of trying to cast the Patronus Harry would be completely exhausted. Ginny wasn't much further either, her Patronus was still translucent though there were occasions when it alternated between translucent and opaque.

"I am never going to get it." Harry threw up his hands in frustration as he flopped down on a couch in the Gryffindor common-room.

Ginny only raised her eyebrows at that. "It never was going to be easy Harry."

"Yeah, I know. But it stinks. This is the only charm that I have ever had problems with." Harry said as he got out his Potions' books. 

He was still on his mission to write a Potions essay which was complete and fault-less in every manner possible. So far Snape had managed to find at least a couple of mistakes every time and marked him down to about 60-70. Harry and frankly almost the entire Gryffindor common-room knew that if it was any other Professor but Snape Harry would be receiving more than a 100 marks and would be treated like a prodigy. But then if it wasn't Snape Harry wouldn't have been trying so hard either. By now Harry had started passing his essay around the Gryffindor common-room for proof-reading. All of the Gryffindor sixth and seventh years had taken up that challenge enthusiastically and Harry could be seen writing his Potions' essay at the breakfast table trying to incorporate the suggestions given by everyone.

It was about two weeks before Halloween when Harry finally made a breakthrough with the Patronus-charm. It was towards the end of the session when Harry finally struck gold or rather a silver shaped animal.

"**Expecto Patronum**!" Harry cried out as he thought about the moment when he and Ginny confessed to each other and then concentrated with all his might and literally willed the spell to produce some definite shape this time. It began as usual as Harry watched the white mist form and then it changing into translucent and opaque and then silver all in less than a second yet distinct. And then suddenly without warning the opaque silver mist morphed into an animal with four legs and Harry dropped his wand simply out of pure surprise.

"You saw that Ginny?" Harry asked after a moment.

"I think so." Ginny replied cautiously. "Try that again." Ginny ordered.

Harry took a deep breath and then readied himself to do it again. He started thinking about his happiest thought and then said the incantation. "**Expecto Patronum**!"

Only this time there was no block of mist or anything instead out sprang an animal. But the animal didn't have clear features. Only thing that they could make out was that it had four legs, but that was all. Besides that it could be anything ranging from a dog to any of the bigger cats. The animal ran around the room twice and then disappeared completely.

Ginny had a huge smile on her face as Harry turned to look at her with an equally big smile on his face. "So what do you think?" Harry asked.

"Still need a completely definite shape according to the books but you are now among the elite few wizards who can actually cast the Patronus Charm. May I offer you my heartiest wishes, My Lord!" Ginny playfully said and then bowed.

"Guess I owe you the Animagus transformation now." Harry said as he flopped down on a couch.

"Yes you do, Mr. Potter and you better not forget that." Ginny said as she got ready to try and get her Patronus working.

By the time Halloween had drawn closer Ginny had managed to get a shape to her Patronus too. It was some kind of bird but it still wasn't well-formed enough so they couldn't quite guess what kind of bird it was. Harry classes were going like the previous year with the exception of Defense against the Dark Arts which had been pathetic the last two years. This time round Harry really had to do work and the lessons were enjoyable too.

Professor Lupin had easily become everyone's favourite Professor. His next few lessons were just as interesting as the first. After boggarts, they studied Red Caps, nasty little goblin like creatures that lurked wherever there had been bloodshed: in the dungeons of castles and the potholes of deserted battlefields, waiting to bludgeon those who had gotten lost. From Red Caps they moved on to kappas, creepy water-dwellers that looked like scaly monkeys, with webbed hands itching to strangle unwitting waders in their ponds. The only persons who complained about Professor Lupin were Malfoy and his Slytherins but they couldn't fault him for his teaching either and settled for criticizing the quality of his robes.

But the biggest revelation had been Hagrid. Harry had feared that Hagrid would lose his confidence after the first lesson but Hagrid had blown away those fears quite spectacularly. After the Hippogriffs they learnt about Gnomes, Jarveys and Kneazles. While it was clear that Hagrid did not particularly find these smaller creatures fascinating or as he put it 'interesting fun' he knew a lot about them too and knew exactly how to share that knowledge with the students. His teaching style was understandably quite unorthodox but no-one could refute the fact that they learnt loads about all the animals. Hagrid had also taken an acute disliking towards Malfoy and when Malfoy had point blank refused to participate in the lesson involving Garden Gnomes as it included 'servant' work as Malfoy put it, Hagrid wasn't impressed and to Ron's great delight Malfoy spent detention hauling Hippogriff dung.

Quidditch training had started in full swing too and the entire team was rather insistent on giving a winning farewell to the captain Oliver Wood who was in his seventh and final year of Hogwarts. The Quidditch practices had become tougher and tougher as Oliver was now making Harry actively break Chaser formations while looking for the Snitch. It was a pretty demanding job and Harry was finding it rather difficult to spot the snitch at the same time. According to the rules for practice Harry lost if anyone else spotted the Snitch before Harry did. They were also practicing moves wherein Harry would distract a chaser and either Angelina or Katie or Alicia would be right behind him to gain possession of the Quaffle. For practicing such maneuvers the twins and Oliver Wood would play the role of opposing chasers whom Harry had to distract even as one of the girls came in behind Harry to gain back possession. But all the three chasers were finding it rather tough to keep up with Harry's flying. Only Angelina was managing to keep up with him and they decided to use that move as an absolute last-breath measure.

The week preceding Halloween was rather tense as far as the four friends rather Ron and Hermione were concerned. Crookshanks had tried to eat Scabbers again and that had set off a gargantuan row between Ron and Hermione. That ensured that they were hardly talking to each other. That meant that Harry and Ginny ended up making strained conversations between the two, but Ron and Hermione used that to throw barbs at each other too. Finally Ginny lost her temper and told the two that they better grow up before talking to Harry and her again and then stormed off literally pulling Harry behind her.

Harry was pleasantly surprised the following morning when Ron and Hermione had unbelievably patched up and were talking normally again. Well, 'normal' for them that is. Ginny's method seemed best suited to deal with the two. Harry was also rather excited about the Hogsmeade visit that had been scheduled for Halloween. Ginny could not 'officially' visit Hogsmeade but that could be easily rectified. It was in the last Transfiguration class before Halloween that things went downhill.

They had been practicing changing beetles into buttons almost like last year. Only this time the buttons were supposed to be much more ornate than the basic ones that they had transfigured in the second year. For a change Harry actually managed to complete the transfiguration before Hermione and she was rather miffed about that. Transfiguration after-all had been bastion, so far and she certainly didn't want to let go of that. And that determination showed on her face which meant that Harry simply couldn't resist it. And since Professor McGonagall was out of the class he was quite in the clear.

No sooner would Hermione finish her transfiguration Harry would aim at the buttons and transfigure them back into beetles. Hermione was concentrating so hard on the spell that she didn't realize Harry's antics. But the rest of the class did and soon they were all chuckling about. Harry kept it up for another couple of minutes before the chuckling got rather loud and she whipped around.

"HARRY!" She cried out in annoyance. "Please tell me that you were transfiguring them all back for the last ten minutes."

By then the rest of the class was laughing outright even as Harry tried to maintain a poker-face. "Sorry, were you talking with me?"

"That's enough Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall it seemed had returned. "Twenty-five points from Gryffindor and you will serve a detention with me tomorrow." Jaws literally dropped around the class as soon as Professor McGonagall handed out the 'sentence'.

"What Ma'am?" Harry asked in surprise.

Professor McGonagall did not reply immediately and unless Harry was mistaken she actually looked nervous. "Is there a problem with the punishment?"

"Are you sure that you indeed are Professor McGonagall and not Professor Snape under the effects of Polyjuice Potion?" Harry simply couldn't help asking that.

"How about we arrange a double detention tomorrow for that cheek." It was clearly a statement.

"B—But tomorrow is the Hogsmeade visit and I went through a hell a lot of trouble to make sure that I got the signature." Harry cried out as he thought over the three days of barbs and insults that he endured silently in exchange for the signature.

"You should have thought about it before committing an offence Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall replied promptly though she was looking dead nervous now.

Harry was about to reply to that when he decided that it was better not to. Something was very odd here. Professor McGonagall never looked nervous while dealing with students. Not even when she was handing out punishments, way bigger than this and for offences way larger than these. He simply couldn't fathom what was going on. He could have bet his life on the fact that under usual circumstance, Professor McGonagall would have awarded him points for extremely quick re-transfiguration.

"_It's Sirius Black you idiot." _Came Ginny's reply who seemed to have been listening to the 'proceedings'.

"_Eh?" _Harry asked back.

"_Really Harry. They want you 'safe' inside the castle. You would be out in the open in Hogsmeade and I don't think that Dumbledore wants to take any risk with that." _Ginny explained further.

"_Well, they can simply inform me of the situation and ask me to be on my guard. Instead of forcing me to do what six hours of manual work. Hell, Professor Dumbledore could tell me about the reason and tell me that I am not allowed to go. Why the hell does he rather they think that keeping me in the dark is the best way to go forward?" _Harry was quite irritated.

"_No idea, Harry. Though you could ask Professor McGonagall about it."_ Ginny sent back.

Just then the bell rang and Harry wasted no time in streaking out of the room. "I expect you in my office at 10 o'clock tomorrow, Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall said even as Harry was at the door.

"Would your office be on the first floor or in the dungeons, Ma'am…err…Sir?" Harry asked and walked away without waiting for a reply. He knew that it was a low-blow. Harry knew that his anger was really quite pointless and this was all supposedly for his own good but it could have been handled much better. For starters, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall could have told him the reasons for the entire drama. He felt that he deserved to know. After-all Mr. Weasley had told him and he had raised seven fine children so he couldn't wrong.

"_Why thank-you Harry." _Ginny said mischievously.

It was a rather tense Gryffindor common-room that evening. The news of Harry's double detentions had spread like wild-fire and by general consensus Professor McGonagall had been rather unfair. Malfoy had a brilliant reason to gloat over and Harry could do only as much to ensure that Ginny did not hex him at dinner. Among the Gryffindors only Percy seemed to agree that the detentions were fair and he kept shooting smug looks at Harry through the evening. The Weasley divide seemed to have widened after coming to Hogwarts as now the four even refused to discuss with Harry about him. Finally Harry went off to sleep after obtaining the promise from Ron and Hermione that they would indeed go to Hogsmeade.

The next day which was Halloween, Harry got up as usual and went for his customary jog. He could jog around the lake now, thought the temperature had started to drop and the rain had been rather persistent early mornings which he thought would sooner or later force him to stop jogging in the outdoors. He decided to have breakfast directly in the kitchens as he didn't really want to mingle with the other students who would all be rather excited to go to Hogsmeade. It also did not help that this time Harry remembered very well as to who died on Halloween.

He spent a lot of time talking with Chucky trying to wriggle out the perfect Christmas gift for her, but Chucky was quite insistent on saying that serving him was the biggest gift that she could get. About half-way through the breakfast Ginny joined him.

"So, what is your plan for the detentions Mr. Potter?" She asked and then stuffed an entire piece of toast in her mouth.

"Are you hungry or what?" He joked back.

Ginny smacked him on the head. "It's only the first piece that I always stuff in my mouth. It is rather satisfying that way." She replied.

Harry only shook his head in reply. "And in response to your original question. I have absolutely no idea. I guess that I will just go and perform the tasks and come back. It hurts though mind you. I went through a lot of shit to get Uncle Vernon to sign on it."

"Well—well what do you know? The great Harry Potter swears too." Ginny replied impishly with a broad smile on her face. Harry thought that she never looked more beautiful. He leaned forward and pecked her on the cheeks.

"See you later, Gin." He said and left behind a rather cheerful Ginny behind.

Ten minutes later, Harry knocked and walked into the first floor office of Professor McGonagall. She was seated behind her desk and filing away some papers. "There are cages in the store-room behind that door." She said pointing at a door. "Kindly clean them. I expect you to finish them all before your double-detentions are up. You will find the cleaning apparatus right there"

Harry did not even nod and instead wordlessly moved to the door, opened it and closed it behind him. There were a lot of cages in it and it would really take him forever to get through them. He began to clean and gradually began to eat into the pile. It was about an hour and half into the detention that Harry realized that Professor McGonagall hadn't mentioned anything about 'not' using magical means of cleaning. 

"_Smart thinking Potter." _Ginny sent back. _"I believe that you are quite right. She didn't mention anything about not using magical means."_ No sooner had Ginny finished he whipped out his wand and fifteen minutes later he was done with all the cages. He stepped back to take a look at his handiwork and then stepped back into the office. Professor McGonagall looked up when he entered.

"You can have a break of about twenty minutes if you like Mr. Potter, to have some lunch and then you can return back." She said without looking up from her work.

"Actually, I am finished with all the cages Professor. That would mean that I am finished with my detention wouldn't it?" Harry said evenly.

"WHAT!" Professor McGonagall said as this time she surely looked up. "How could you have finished cleaning all the cages so quickly? There are over hundred cages in there."

"I killed a basilisk, Ma'am. Everything after that is a bit of a downgrade." Harry replied impishly a smile firmly planted on his face.

Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows at that. Harry had never ever mentioned the Chamber's incident even in passing before and now he was joking about it. She got up from her seat and entered the store-room to check herself. It was then that she realized that about a quarter of cages were cleaned quite fairly while the rest of them were literally spotless, almost as if cleaned by magic. But cleaning charms weren't taught until the fourth year.

"You wouldn't have happened to use magic to clean them have you?" She asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yes, of course I did. It is much simpler that way." Harry calmly replied back. "And before you go berserk, let me point out that you failed to mention anywhere in your instructions that I wasn't allowed to use magic." Harry was smiling broadly now. "So can I leave now? I think that I can still make it to Hogsmeade."

For the first time in many years, Professor McGonagall was quite dumbstruck. She certainly hadn't been a fan of holding back Harry in the castle by giving him detention on Hogsmeade week-ends, but the Headmaster had insisted and now she had a problem on her hands as she was sure that Harry would use the first opportunity to head for Hogsmeade. "NO! I am afraid that you will have to serve the stipulated time of four hours for double-detentions. Take this note and please make your way to Mr. Filch's office. He would continue this detention further."

Harry's heart sank inwardly as he knew that this was the end of his chance of sneaking off to Hogsmeade. Filch never failed to mention the clause about not using wands and he would have him forever. Three hours later, Harry was literally feeling nauseating. Filch had him cleaning the floors and it never seemed to end. Finally Harry heard four peals of a distant watch and he knew that he had served more than enough time.

"All-right that's enough." Harry said as he threw away the mop and got up. "I have served six hours of detention, which by the way makes it three detentions. I am off." Harry said as he started moving away. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Filch open his mouth to say something. "Do complain to someone, Filch. I too have quite a big bone to pick with the staff."

Harry reached the Gryffindor common-room after taking a wide loop around the castle. Ginny was asleep so it wasn't like he was going to have some company. He reached the common-room but he was still feeling a bit, rather a lot irritated and only one thing relieved him of that. He went up to his room, grabbed his broom and as walked out of the portrait-hole as Percy was standing near the window and he didn't want a confrontation with Percy. A few minutes later, he was doing lazy rounds around the Quidditch pitch.

As he felt in sync with the broom and air he decided to practice some dives. Thanks to Wood's insistence that Harry was to actively break their chaser-formations, Harry had very little practice of dives. But he couldn't really blame Wood; the Slytherin chasers still had the fastest brooms in school. The first match was against Slytherin and Harry knew that they had to win it. If for nothing then to see the smirks disappear off both Snape and Malfoy's faces. He went in for dive after dive. Trying to shave off every possible hundredth of a second from it. Even though he had got the better of Malfoy for the snitch, Malfoy was still on the fastest broom in the world. Well, the fastest affordable broom now that the Firebolt was released.

Once Harry let himself loose he was totally lost and concentrating completely on flying. He was practicing the horizontal red-herrings and the vertical take-offs. The vertical take-offs, Harry had realized that were completely innocuous but if the flier did not fly properly there was a good chance that he would lose control of the broom. He himself lost control a couple of times but managed to gain it back before any damage could occur.

"_Where are you Gin?" _Harry sent as he decided that he had enough practice and was rather hungry now.

"_In the common-room. Where are you? There are only about fifteen minutes for the feast to begin. Didn't talk with you as I really didn't want to disturb your concentration."_ Ginny sent back.

"_Can we not go? Professor McGonagall isn't really high on my favourite persons' list right now and Filch is rather angry with me and I am too tired to deal with them right now." _Harry explained. _"But I am still hungry." _Harry added.

"_Well, I could get something packed from Chucky and then we could eat it by the Quidditch stadium." _Ginny suggested and Harry readily agreed.

Half an hour later and a wild ride on the broom later, Ginny was ready to eat. Harry and Ginny spent an enjoyable time eating the dinner that Chucky had packed. It was a semi-picnic lunch but Chucky had gone quite the distance and for all practical purposes they both enjoyed the feast. After the dinner as they were too tired to walk all the way back to the Gryffindor tower, Ginny hitched a ride on Harry's broom back to the tower. Harry rather enjoyed the feeling of a warm body on the back of his broom and almost missed the window as his concentration waned.

"Good-night Gin." Harry wished her and then leaned forward and kissed her on the cheeks. It was at best a completely platonic gesture but Ginny still 'loved' it and gave Harry a peck on the cheeks too before they both headed to their dorms.

Harry took a shower and then literally jumped into his bed and was out like a light before his head even hit the pillows. Harry woke up the next morning as and usual started to go for his jog. He had climbed down to the third floor when a loud scream was heard and Harry whipped out his wand and turned around. He didn't spot her at first but standing right at the top of one of the moving staircases was Professor McGonagall and she didn't cut her usual picture of confident, self-assured and firm head of the house that he knew. Her face was literally white. About a thousand expressions were flitting over her face and none were those of confidence, self-assurance or firmness. Her hair was all tousled-up and Harry could almost imagine what his hair would look if he grew it long. Her robes were disheveled and also marred by dirt at many places.

"What is wrong Professor?" Harry said as he climbed two steps at a time and was at her side in a couple of seconds. "What happened to you?"

Professor McGonagall didn't respond immediately and then slowly extended her arm and touched Harry on his shoulder and squeezed it and then let out an audible sigh of relief. "Harry why did you receive the day before yesterday's detention?" She suddenly asked as she stepped away from Harry and her wand was out before Harry could blink.

"Eh?" Harry asked confusedly.

"Answer the question, Mr. Potter." She repeated firmly.

"Er, I haven't slept for a day; have I? Because I am quite sure that you had me cleaning cages yesterday. But what is this all about and why are you looking so un-Professor McGonagallish?" Harry couldn't help asking the last question. He had no idea what was going on there.

"Where were you last night, Harry? And do you happen to know where Miss Weasley is?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Harry couldn't hide the look of surprise on his face. Of all the questions that he had imagined this was certainly not it and he certainly couldn't think of anything 'wrong' that he had don last night. "Err; I was sleeping in my dorm and the last time I had seen Ginny was when she was walking up the stairs to her dorm." Harry replied, he could still feel Ginny asleep but he wasn't about to tell Professor McGonagall asked.

"You were there for the entire duration of the night?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Yeah, I am quite sure that I was asleep for the entire duration inside the Gryffindor tower Professor. But why are you asking me all this?" Harry asked.

Professor McGonagall didn't reply immediately. "Kindly make your way to Professor Dumbledore's office. The password is Mars Bars. I shall be there with the headmaster momentarily. You shall understand the reasons for it soon enough and Harry straight to the office please. NO DIVERSIONS." Professor McGonagall warned and Harry nodded mutely.

Harry nodded mutely and wondered what in the world that was all about. He walked towards the wing from which he knew that there was a more direct approach to the Headmaster's office. A few minutes later he found himself in front of the ugly Gargoyle. He gave the password and stepped onto the revolving staircase and entered into the Headmaster's office, knowing that it was empty. He entered and sat onto one of the chairs opposite his desk. The only other living being in the office besides Harry was Fawkes who was giving Harry piercing looks with his large beady eyes.

Harry got up to pet Fawkes. "Thanks for your tears, mate. I owe you big time for that. For a moment I was thinking that it was game over for me, but you came into the picture just in time. Thanks again." Harry said as he petted Fawkes feathers. Fawkes gave a short trill which filled Harry's heart with hope and made him feel blissful. "Oh and thanks for your feather too. I never thanked you for that. Your wand had been quite brilliant. See, I can even cast a Patronus with it." Harry said as he whipped out his wand and said the spell. "**Expecto Patronum**!" A moment later the four-legged animal burst out of the wand and sauntered around the room twice before disappearing.

Harry petted Fawkes for one last time and then walked over to the cabinet which held the old broom and then continued looking forward. Professor Dumbledore's office held a lot of books about wards and runes and other theoretical books on transfiguration. Books that Harry knew he would be staying far away. Reading about theoretical books for pleasure certainly wasn't his piece of cake. But he knew that he would have to read the theoretical books if he was ever to help Ginny and of course himself too achieve the Animagus transformation. But they hadn't even discussed it with her and he would cross the bridge when he came across that particular river. His musings were disturbed as the door opened and in stepped Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and to Harry's greatest consternation Snape who had a look of pure anger on his face.

"Ah, Good Morning Harry." Professor Dumbledore said as he strode over to his desk and sat in his chair. "Did you find anything interesting in my small collection of books?"

"The names are interesting. I doubt that I would understand any of the matter in them." Harry said as he moved past the huge table and took a seat in the chair that Professor McGonagall had pointed to.

"So, Harry do you have any idea why we called you here?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Err, no." Harry replied immediately.

"Well then let me get straight to the point. Last evening Sirius Black tried to break into all the four common-rooms." Professor Dumbledore said and even though he was quite surprised, well shocked actually he didn't miss the look of surprise that the two Professors gave their boss. There was something amiss with that statement. But Black the man out to kill him was entering the castle apparently at free will and trying to enter the common-rooms. So much for keeping him inside the castle.

"Of course, he could not enter any of them as he didn't have the password." Professor Dumbledore continued. "It seems that he tried the Gryffindor common-room last as in his anger he viciously slashed the portrait of the Fat Lady. She abandoned her portrait so that no Gryffindor could enter the common-room and that is how we realized that Sirius Black was in the castle. Of course we asked all the students to return to the Great Hall and they spent the night there even as we searched the castle for Sirius Black. We didn't find him so it was clear that he had escaped. Now the only problem and a big problem was that Miss Weasley and yourself were missing from the student populace and we could not find you two anywhere in the castle." Professor took a deep breath before continuing. "That of course led us to believe that Black had managed to take students as hostage which we always feared would be his aim." It seemed that Professor Dumbledore wanted to continue but Harry cut in.

"Err, why didn't anybody search for us in our dormitories?" Harry asked innocuously.

"Don't be stupid Potter." Snape had finally spoken up. "Your fat-lady told me that the common-room was empty and that you hadn't returned since you walked out with your broom and neither had Weasley who had exited about an hour before the feast." Snape spat out with disgust and Harry couldn't help smiling. So Snape had cocked up the search which ensured that all the Professors ended up searching for him and Ginny the entire night. It was only 7:00am in the morning and this already was one of Harry's favourite days.

"Oh, that is quite….err….unfortunate." Harry said.

"The point is Harry how did you get into the common-room." Professor Dumbledore asked. "The Fat-Lady cannot be mistaken nor could she have forgotten that about you, Harry. You were not in the common-room when Sirius Black attacked her. So the question is, if you returned later how did you enter the common-room?"

"We flew in. Ginny wanted to ride on my broom and then we weren't quite hungry and as I had a couple of bars of chocolates up in my dorm, we decided to have those. So she rode behind me on my broom and we flew in through the window at the top." Harry replied.

"You should be expelled for this Potter. Ten Professors spent an entire night searching for the two of you when you were using illegal means of entering the castle." Snape was in full flow and Harry wasn't about to remain quiet.

"All the Professors spent the entire night searching for us, because YOU messed up as simple thing as searching for two students in their common-rooms. All you had to do was enter and looks for the door marked Third Years' and you………"

"That is quite enough Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall interrupted and then looked at Professor Dumbledore expecting him to continue.

"Very well, it seems that this was all a big mix-up. You may return to your activities now Harry and kindly refrain from jumping from the seventh floor with only a broom in hand and the new password to the Gryffindor Common-room is 'Effreno Absisto Arma" He finished with a smile. Harry raised his eyebrows in question at the strange password but did not comment and within a few seconds he was out of the office.

Inside the office no sooner did the door close two set of eyes were trained on the Headmaster. "All the four common-rooms were attacked, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked her eyebrows raised dangerously.

"He doesn't need to know about the fact that Black is after him." Professor Dumbledore began. "He is too smart, inquisitive, perceptive and resourceful to not figure out why Black wants to kill him. Do you really think that Harry is going to buy the theory that Black was huge supporter of Voldemort and hence escaped to somehow kill Harry and bring Voldemort back? Sooner rather later he would figure out that Sirius Black and James Potter were together in Hogwarts and were best friends. Then somehow he is bound to realize that the only reason his parents are dead is because their best friend betrayed them, imagine what he would do. Going by his past history, he would probably search for Black himself and as you and I know perfectly well, it is impossible to keep track of students for long periods of time in the castle. To top it off, it seems that Harry knows the castle way better than Argus or even I do. I would bet that even two aurors can't follow him inside Hogwarts outside of it is a completely different story, though. To top it off, it seems that he has somehow learnt some form of Occlumency. I simply could not tell whether he was telling the truth or lying. No stray thoughts were escaping his mind for me to interpret. Now knowing this, would you have told him the truth?"

Professor McGonagall nodded her head after sometime. "You are right. There is too much of a risk involved in telling him. Though some measures need to be taken. Perhaps Hooch could oversee his Quidditch practices."

"I will leave those arrangements to you." Professor Dumbledore said.

HOW CAN HE HAVE LEARNT OCCLUMENCY?" Snape who had been keeping that particular knowledge buried under the covers for a long time, finally seemed to have lost his control and blurted out rather loudly and excitedly. 

"I can only speculate, but to be frank. It is only good that he is learning to shield his mind." Professor Dumbledore replied.

A few days after the attempted break-in by Sirius Black the entire castle was on tenterhooks. The entire castle was under the impression that Sirius Black had broken in to take a hostage and then somehow get out of the country. Four Weasleys, one Granger and one Potter however knew precisely why he had entered the castle and they were quite sure that he hadn't tried to enter the other three common-rooms. Ron, Hermione and the twins had panicked a lot but surprisingly Ginny had been quite calm about it. As she put it, Harry could give her practically a running commentary of where Black was taking him. Of course that would be quite pointless if Black killed him as soon as he spotted Harry, it was something to go by. After all the students returned that morning, the twins disappeared for an hour and returned with the news that Black certainly hadn't used either the tunnel behind the mirror nor the tunnel behind the one-eyed witch.

"How can you be absolutely sure?" Hermione asked them.

"We warded them and also had a few other surprises in place." The twins replied.

"But, wards can be detected. Detected and taken down. And HOW can you set-up wards? You haven't taken Arithmancy." She shot back.

"No Hermione wards can be taken down but the same wards can never be set-up again. And you need Arithmancy to 'break' curses and wards not set them up. Also we had a few muggle surprises in place. Surprises that he would simply brush aside as an everyday anomaly." The twins said effectively silencing Hermione. But that meant that Sirius Black was using some other means of getting into the castle and they simply couldn't figure out any other mean.

"It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know. The one night we weren't supposed to be in the tower. I mean Harry and Ginny were but that was a complete coincidence about which Black could have no information at all." For some reason this comment of Hermione's stuck in Harry's mind like something stuck with a Permanent Sticking Solution. Hermione was right. Black broke in on Halloween, the one evening when the common-room is practically guaranteed to be empty. Also Hogsmeade was decked up for Halloween so it was rather difficult to miss the day.

Sir Cadgon the new guardian of the Gryffindor tower seemed to be hated universally by everyone including Percy. He challenged everyone to a duel and kept up making highly complex passwords which were quite difficult to remember and to top that off he changed them sometimes within two days. But Sir Cadgon and indeed Sirius Black was Harry's least of worries. Professors were now finding reasons to walk alongside him after classes. Percy had started following him again too but one deadly-glare from Ginny later Percy stopped that.

But the worst news was the fact that in the Quidditch match that was to be held within four days, Gryffindor were going to play Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin. Apparently Malfoy was still walking around in that sling and hence hadn't had time to prepare. The actual reason was clearly the fact that the Slytherin team did not want in the worsening weather. Heavy rains had settled over Hogwarts and were showing no signs of stopping. Also Hufflepuff and Slytherin played literally in contrasting styles and Gryffindor only had one practice session before the game to try and compensate for that. That practice was overseen by Madame Hooch who informed the team that it was going to be standard procedure from then. As that was clearly inadequate, Wood was passing tips to Harry between classes as Cedric Diggory who was at best a steady and fair flier would have a tremendous advantage in the high winds that were being forecast for the weekend.

On the Friday before the match Harry could worry about nothing but the match. Oliver Wood kept hurrying up to him between classes and giving him tips. The third time this happened, Wood talked for so long that Harry suddenly realized he was ten minutes late for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and set off at a run with Wood shouting after him, "Diggory's got a very fast swerve, Harry, so you might want to try looping him --"

Harry skidded to a halt outside the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom, pulled the door open, and dashed inside. "Sorry I'm late, Professor Lupin. I --" But it wasn't Professor Lupin who looked up at him from the teacher's desk; it was Snape.

"This lesson began ten minutes ago, Potter, so I think we'll make it ten points from Gryffindor. Sit down."

"Where is Professor Lupin, Sir?" Harry asked knowing the answer. It was full-moon the night before which meant that Professor Lupin would be out of action for a couple of days, at-least.

"Nothing life-threatening," he said, looking as though he wished it were. "Five more points from Gryffindor, and if I have to ask you to sit down again, it will be fifty."

Harry walked slowly to his seat and sat down. Snape looked around at the class. 

"As I was saying before Potter interrupted, Professor Lupin has not left any record of the topics you have covered so far --"

"Please, sir, we've done boggarts, Red Caps, kappas, and grindylows," said Hermione quickly, "and we're just about to start --"

"Be quiet," said Snape coldly. "I did not ask for information. I was merely commenting on Professor Lupin's lack of organization."

"He's the best Defense against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had," said Dean Thomas boldly, and there was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the class. Snape looked more menacing than ever.

"You are easily satisfied. Lupin is hardly overtaxing you -- I, would expect first years to be able to deal with Red Caps and grindylows. Today we shall discuss --"

"Many Potions' experts also expect first years to be able to handle Shrinking Potions, but only under the tutelage of an able Professor." Harry shot back and instantly groans were heard around the class. If Harry got detention he would miss the match.

Snape's head shot up at that comment. Harry could see his black eyes literally glittering. "That would be twenty points from Gryffindor…." Snape began but Harry wasn't done.

"……for the truth." Harry said.

"_Are you feeling, adventurous today or what? Don't push it Harry." _Ginny sent back. _"No Harry, stop it." _Ginny insisted as she could feel Harry thinking about a reply.

"That will be another twenty-five points from Gryffindor and be lucky that it isn't more." Snape said as he started flicking through the textbook. Harry watched him flick through the textbook, to the very back chapter, which he must know they hadn't covered. "Werewolves," said Snape.

The instant he had said that three heads in the class snapped-up. Harry, Hermione and Ron exchanged looks with each other. Snape was clearly trying to get Lupin's lycanthropy out in the open. He couldn't allow that to happen.

"Which of you can tell me how we distinguish between the werewolf and the true wolf?" said Snape.

Everyone sat in motionless silence; everyone except Hermione, whose hand, as it so often did, had shot straight into the air.

"Anyone?" Snape said, ignoring Hermione. His twisted smile was back. "Are you telling me that Professor Lupin hasn't even taught you the basic distinction between --?"

"We told you," said Parvati suddenly, "we haven't got as far as werewolves yet, we're still on --"

"Silence!" snarled Snape. "Well, well, well, I never thought I'd meet a third year class who wouldn't even recognize a werewolf when they saw one. I shall make a point of informing Professor Dumbledore how very behind you all are..."

"Please, sir," said Hermione, whose hand was still in the air, "the werewolf differs from the true wolf in several small ways. The snout of the werewolf --"

"That is the second time you have spoken out of turn, Miss Granger," said Snape coolly. "Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all."

Hermione went very red, put down her hand, and stared at the floor with her eyes full of tears. It was a mark of how much the class loathed Snape that they were all glaring at him, because every one of them had called Hermione a know-it-all at least once, and Ron, who told Hermione she was a know-it-all at least twice a week, said loudly, "You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don't want to be told?"

The class knew instantly he'd gone too far. Snape advanced on Ron slowly, and the room held its breath.

"Detention, Weasley," Snape said silkily, his face very close to Ron's. "And if I ever hear you criticize the way I teach a class again, you will be very sorry indeed."

Harry had enough of the farcical class that was going on. Clearly Snape's only aim was to malign Professor Lupin and bring out the fact that he was a werewolf in the open. He got up from his seat and stuffed his book into the back and streaked out of the classroom leaving a stunned classroom behind him. Unbelievably no sooner had he reached the end of the corridor he heard the sound of the classroom door opening. He turned around only to spot the rest of the Gryffindors exit the classroom behind him. Rest of the Gryffindors including Hermione.

"_Are you getting this Ginny?" _Harry asked 'mentally' as he waited for the rest of the Gryffindors to catch up with him.

"_Crystal clear. I wasn't concentrating on my lesson anyways. Yours' was way more fun. This is going to go down in the history books too."_ Ginny replied.

"_Front-page dear Gin. Front page." _Harry replied as Hermione caught up with him and pushed him along a bit quicker.

"Thanks for that. Someone might have got the truth and it would have been curtains for Professor Lupin." Hermione said as they all headed towards the Gryffindor common-room. The Gryffindor Common third years were treated as heroes after the rest of the students returned from their classes in the evening before dinner. Nobody had ever walked out of Snape's class. This was bigger than Harry standing up to Snape. This time they hadn't thrown Snape's shit back at him. They had literally taken away his ability to throw shit at them. No-one had ever contemplated that.

"Little 'Mione Merlin, who would have thought……" The twins had returned to the Common Room. But Hermione shushed them on even as she was poring over a large book with great concentration.

"_Took them a long time to return." _Ginny said, even as the twins started their gig on Ron after being done with Hermione.

"_Well, I wouldn't be surprised to know that they were personally responsible for informing everyone in the castle about today." _Harry sent back. The twins did their gig on each and every third year Gryffindor and were about to do so on Harry when the portrait-hole was slammed open and in stepped Professor McGonagall red as well as red as a person can get rage and fury clearly written large over her face.

"WOULD THE RESPONSIBLE STUDENTS PLEASE STEP IN FRONT?" She bellowed out.

"_All the best Harry." _Ginny said and Harry shot her a smile as he got up. But the biggest surprise was Hermione. She was closest to Professor McGonagall but she almost ran backwards towards Harry and then very much slammed the book into his arms.

"Read the paragraphs that I have marked and here are the notes about the rest of the things that you would need. Read them before you come there." Hermione said and then she ran away towards Professor McGonagall. Harry looked down at the book. It was the Hogwarts rule book. Hermione had marked pages regarding the circumstances under which a student could be suspended. Harry flitted over them and then read Hermione's hand-written notes on the page and smiled.

"MR. POTTER, I BELIEVE THAT YOU WERE MORE THAN RESPONSIBLE TOO. HAUL YOURSELVES HERE RIGHT NOW." Professor McGonagall literally barked out.

Harry got up from his seat and made his way towards Professor McGonagall. Professor McGonagall began proceedings using vocabulary that no one in Gryffindor had ever thought that she possessed. "I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE ASHAMED OF MY CHARGES AS I AM ASHAMED WITH THE EIGHT OF YOU! WALKING out of a class and slamming the door on the face of a Professor…….WHAT WERE YOU EIGHT THINKING? This kind of behaviour is not expected from students brought up in civilized society. What kind of NONSENSE is this? Did you even think what consequences would your action have? And HARRY POTTER what were you thinking before leading out the rest of them. Hogwarts has never been more ashamed of it's students. Godric Gryffindor would be turning in his grave right now if he were to learn about the despicable, shameful and disgraceful behaviour of the students belonging to his house……." Harry tuned Professor McGonagall out as he discretely began reading the paragraphs again. Finally after almost fifteen minutes. Professor McGonagall stopped to take a breath. 

"_All the Best Harry. I hate to say this but Hermione is rarely wrong." _Ginny sent over the link.

"Rest assured the eight of you will be receiving more than just punishments. Also I shall be writing to all of your parents—guardians." Professor McGonagall faltered a bit before continuing again. "As the eight of you were involved, I think that Eight Hundred points will be taken from Gryffindor." Gasps and groans were heard around the Gryffindor common room. The House Cup was certainly out of their reach now.

"All privileges given to the eight of you are hereby suspended until further notice. That means that the eight of you are banned from Hogsmeade visits until further notice. Also it means that Mr. Potter will not be allowed to represent Gryffindor in the Quidditch match tomorrow. The eight of you will also serve a month of detentions." This time outright calls of protests and catcalls and jeers were heard from the common-room and Harry saw Percy unsuccessfully trying to quiten down the Gryffindors.

"Can I say something Ma'am?" Harry asked evenly and almost immediately there was dead silence in the common-room.

"WHAT?" Barked Professor McGonagall who was clearly still incensed.

"Under section 32A of the Hogwarts Rule-Book, I would like to invoke Rule 11." Harry said without looking up from the large book that Hermione had handed out to him.

"What does that mean?" Professor McGonagall asked this time quite a bit confused.

"That means that I would like to appeal against the suspension of my Hogsmeade and Quidditch privileges. This would mean that, according to the rules I will have a minimum of three days and a maximum of seven days to present or represent our point of view to the Headmaster. Since the alleged offence committed is not one that might come under the purview of the Ministry laws all the privileges have to be reinstated to us pending a hearing." Harry finished rather loudly and then walked towards Professor McGonagall and handed over the book to her. Professor McGonagall hesitated for a moment before taking the book in her hands and began reading.

It took full five seconds for the meaning of that statement to sink in and then there was pandemonium in the common-room. The simple fact that their seeker was in all probability going to play tomorrow was more than enough to celebrate. It took whole five minutes for the noise inside the common-room to die down and then all eyes were focused on Professor McGonagall.

"Very well. I shall run this by the Headmaster and then let you know of the decision before curfew tonight. Mr. Weasley, kindly follow me." She beckoned Percy who made his way through the crowd in the Common-Room and followed Professor McGonagall through the portrait-hole.

Dinner was a very interesting affair that night. The Slytherins were in full-form as they started openly jeered the Gryffindors. But to their greatest consternation none of the Gryffindors showed even an ounce of interest in those jeers. Everyone had their eyes peeled on the door through which the Professors generally entered. Professor Dumbledore and all the four Head of the Houses were absent from dinner and anticipation was quite thick in the air. It was exactly at a quarter of an hour to nine when Percy turned up in the Gryffindor tower.

"Mr. Potter, Professor McGonagall had sent word that you are allowed to play in tomorrow's Quidditch match." Percy replied in a pompous voice and once again there were loud cheers in the common-room interrupted only by Oliver Wood's loud declaration that the team was to head to bed immediately.

Harry woke up very early the next morning. He fumbled around to find the alarm clock that belonged to Dean but since he didn't use it Harry had borrowed it. It only was 4:30am. Harry groaned and tried to go back to sleep but he couldn't manage that. The sounds of the thunder rumbling overhead, the pounding of the wind against the castle walls, and the distant creaking of the trees in the Forbidden Forest were a constant reminder of what he was going to face while flying. It was a gale out there and quite a ferocious gale at that. Finally at about 5 O' clock he gave up any hopes of going back to sleep and a shower later he was in the common-room. By 5:30am the entire Quidditch team was in the common-room and by silent consent they started making their way to the Great Hall.

The real effects of the gale could be felt in the Great Hall where the roof painted quite a picture. Harry knew that Cedric Diggory who was a lot bigger than him would have an advantage over him in this wind. Cedric was much less likely to be blown off course. It seemed that the rest of the staff had woken up earlier than usual too.

The entire teaching staff of Hogwarts was at the Long Table at barely half past six. That was saying something as breakfast officially began only at 7 O' clock. Professor McGonagall still looked very, very angry and Harry hoped that Lee didn't cross the line today or he might just join the third years in detention. Snape looked angry too while Professor Dumbledore looked as tranquil as ever. But the strangest thing was that none of the Professors were talking among themselves either. The Great Hall had about 15-people but not a drop of conversation could be heard.

A few hours later Harry found himself ready on to take off on the Quidditch pitch. Surprisingly the entire school had turned up to watch the match inspite of all the rain, well for all practical purposes a cloud-burst.

"_This is Quidditch Potter. What do you expect people to do? Sit in the common-rooms and complete their essays?" _Ginny said mentally.

"_No, but I have not watched one single match at all the time I have been in Hogwarts." _Harry replied.

"_I don't think that Hermione would ever condone that. Anyways all the best." _Ginny wished Harry as she made her way up the stands.

The Hufflepuffs were approaching from the opposite side of the field, wearing canary-yellow robes. The Captains walked up to each other and shook hands; Diggory smiled at Wood but Wood no, looked as though he had lockjaw and merely nodded. Harry saw Madam Hooch's mouth form the words, "Mount your brooms." He pulled his right foot out of the mud with a squelch and swung it over his Nimbus Two Thousand. Madam Hooch put her whistle to her lips and gave it a blast that sounded shrill and distant they were off

Five minutes later Harry was soaked to the skin and he knew that he was at a great disadvantage. The water-repelling spell was keeping him from being blind as a bat but that didn't improve visibility as a whole. Also Harry realized very soon that the visibility was dropping literally by the minute and Cedric was managing to fly way better than he was. If he was to win or have any chance at catching the snitch Diggory had to be put at a disadvantage.

The Wronksi Feint was the only bright possibility. Harry passed Cedric once in the air. Harry was flying clockwise and Cedric clockwise and both were flying really high in the air. After Harry had passed him about thrice he decided that he had to make move at the next. On the next pass when Cedric was about ten yards away from him, Harry faked a look of concentration and then went into a dive. It was a rather gentle dive as compared to his usual dives but he needed to make sure that Cedric actually followed him. Sure enough a moment later Cedric was streaming after Harry and actually catching up as unlike Harry he didn't have to adjust his course every single second to countermand the effect of wind. Three seconds later Harry could see the ground approaching fast and he extended his hand to complete the picture of him following the snitch.

Cedric who had held back until then couldn't help himself but accelerate and a moment later he had overtaken Harry and was desperately looking around for the non-existent snitch. Harry led him on till the last second and a moment before hitting the ground; Harry jerked his broomstick upwards and was off back into the air. Cedric however had no such chance. With his eyes busy in searching for the snitch he never had a chance of pulling out of the dive and a moment after Harry had pulled back into the air he crashed into the ground with a loud thud.

As Harry flew into the air he felt rather bad about 'feinting' Cedric Diggory who by all means was a rather decent chap; but he had a match to win. A few minutes later Cedric Diggory was back in the air, the soft ground had broken his fall considerably but he was shaken up all the same and his broom would never be the same again. Cedric's broom was flying at the speed that was at least half of Harry's and it clearly couldn't climb too high. Deciding to apologize later Harry began his vigil again.

Harry was glad that he had executed the Wronksi Feint when he had for within no time the visibility dropped to practically nil and the rain unbelievably intensified. He flew backward and forward across the field past blurred red and yellow shapes, with no idea of what was happening in the rest of the game. He couldn't hear the commentary over the wind. The crowd was hidden beneath a sea of cloaks and battered umbrellas. Twice Harry came very close to being unseated by a Bludger but managed to duck just in time.

He lost track of time. But he knew that it was a long time since the match actually began. It was getting harder and harder to hold his broom straight. The sky was getting darker, as though night had decided to come early. Twice Harry nearly hit another player, without knowing whether it was a teammate or opponent; everyone was now so wet, and the rain so thick, he could hardly tell them apart... With the first flash of lightning came the sound of Madam Hooch's whistle; Harry could just see the outline of Wood through the thick rain, gesturing him to the ground. The whole team splashed down into the mud.

"What's the score?" Harry asked as soon as he landed. 

"We are ninety points ahead. But it is way into the afternoon and if you don't get the snitch soon then we will play into the night." Wood replied and Harry mutely nodded even though he knew that he could spot the snitch only it was in a ten yards radius. "Okay team let's go."

Harry was now quite numb with cold and it seemed that Cedric Diggory had shaken off his shock and was flying pretty well as compared to his earlier attempt. There was another clap of thunder, followed immediately by forked lightning. This was getting more and more dangerous. Harry needed to get the Snitch quickly -

He turned, intending to head back toward the middle of the field, but at that moment, another flash of lightning illuminated the stands, and Harry saw something that distracted him completely, the silhouette of an enormous shaggy black dog, clearly imprinted against the sky, motionless in the topmost, empty row of seats. Harry's numb hands slipped on the broom handle and his Nimbus dropped a few feet. Deciding that the dog could wait Harry concentrated back on the field and unbelievably he spotted the snitch, at the centre of the pitch about a hundred more feet above his current altitude.

The next moment, Harry threw himself flat on the broom-handle and started zooming towards the snitch. A few seconds later Cedric Diggory spotted it too and started pelting towards the snitch but there was going to be always one winner in that race. Cedric was eons away from the snitch and Harry would probably reach there with ten seconds to spare at least.

But something odd was happening. An eerie silence was falling across the stadium. The wind, though as strong as ever, was forgetting to roar. It was as though someone had turned off the sound, as though Harry had gone suddenly deaf -- what was going on? Harry saw Cedric look in terror and horror at something below him and then he turned around and flew away from the snitch.

And then a horribly familiar wave of cold swept over him, inside him, just as he became aware of something moving on the field below... Before he'd had time to think, Harry had taken his eyes off the Snitch and looked down.

At least a hundred dementors, their hidden faces pointing up at him, were standing beneath him. It was as though freezing water were rising in his chest, cutting at his insides. And then he heard it again...

Someone was screaming, screaming inside his head... a woman...

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl... stand aside, now..."

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead --"

Numbing, swirling white mist was filling Harry's brain... What was he doing? Why was he flying? He needed to help her... She was going to die... She was going to be murdered...

Suddenly out of the mist came a voice that he cherished beyond everything else. _"No, HAARY. You can FIGHT THEM. You know that Patronus charm. Don't succumb to the cold." _Came Ginny's passionate imploration and Harry knew that he could fight them.

He whipped out his wand and tried to think about Ginny's and his' mutual confession and then cried out the spell. "**Expecto Patronum!**"

But nothing happened and only a mist came out from his wand and the screaming in his head started off again.

"_You can do this Harry, try AGAIN."_ Ginny said passionately.

Harry steeled himself and then while thinking about the memory he tried the spell for the second time. "**Expecto Patronum!**"

This time he had hit gold. A silver four-legged animal came out of his wand and headed for the nearest dementor who had advanced perilously close to Harry. Harry heart leaped as he realized that his Patronus had morphed into a definite shape and that it was some kind of big cat, probably a jaguar. His jaguar took care of the nearest Dementor and a few around him but there still were a lot around Harry.

Without putting too much thought into it Harry cried out again. "**Expecto Patronum!** **Expecto Patronum!**" And two more Patroni sprang out of his wand and started taking care of the remaining dementors. But suddenly Harry started feeling very weak and could barely keep his eyes open. Miraculously he spotted the snitch a few feet ahead of him and he flew over and extended his other hand to catch it and then he lost consciousness.

Harry opened his eyes to spot half a dozen people with concerned looks on their faces. _"Ginny what happened?" _He asked over the link.

"_You lost consciousness again, Harry." _Ginny replied very somberly even as she put-on the glasses on Harry's face. Harry could feel Ginny's immense worry and apprehension over the link. He noticed that the entire Quidditch team, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were spread around his bed. Their robes were still mud-splattered and they all had looks of great disbelief and concern on their faces.

"Err…guys what happened we won right?" Harry asked.

"If you open your right hand and it has the snitch, then yes." Came Ginny's curt reply. "I can't believe that you are more worried about what happened to the match when we were all worried whether you will be alive or no." Ginny said angrily as she slapped him on the right cheek and started walking away.

Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her closer and hugged her. "I am sorry Gin, but the last thing that I remember is catching the snitch. How did I lose consciousness this time too? I mean I did fire off the Patroni. Didn't I?" Harry asked and everyone was still pretty quiet. He opened his right hand just to confirm that he did have the snitch. "Okay will someone answer my questions?" Even as he asked that he noticed everyone looking really tense and Ginny had started crying on his shoulder.

"I—It's that we thought that you were dead Harry." The twins began. Harry had seen them serious and sober only once before.

"Yeah you fell from at least two hundred feet or maybe more." Angelina added. Her voice quite heavy and suddenly Harry realized that they were all really shaken up.

"We saw you racing towards the snitch and then suddenly the dementors came onto the ground." Hermione added and then stopped as she welled-up a bit too. Ginny was still crying onto his shoulders.

"Then we saw you shoot something from your wand and then a few seconds later something enormous silver came from your wand It looked like a big cat and then we saw you shooting two more of those things and then you simply fell from the broom from that height." The twins said.

"We thought that you had died, I mean who can survive such a huge fall but you were somehow alive. Professor McGonagall reckons that you survived because the ground was very, very soft and you somehow managed to fall into a pool of water that was about two feet deep. It isn't that deep, but it probably kept you alive. Then Hagrid picked you up and ran all the way here." Ron added.

"You had heaps of broken bones but Madame Pomfrey had healed all of them now." Alicia added and she was close to tears too.

"And what happened to the dementors?" Harry asked.

"Professor Dumbledore shot the same silvery thing that you shot and them and then made them all go away. He was absolutely livid. He looked really angry at them." Hermione said.

"B—But why did I faint again?" Harry asked desperately. He didn't want to know that he had spent hours and hours behind learning the Patronus and that was quite useless now.

"That would be because of Magical Exhaustion, Harry." Professor Dumbledore answered as he was walking towards his bed. "How are you feeling now, Harry?" He asked the twinkle completely absent from his eyes and worry etched large over his face. Behind him was Professor McGonagall.

Almost by silent consent the rest of the team, Ron and Hermione got up to leave but Ginny however was staying put. _"You can come later, Gin. You know where my Invisibility cloak is." _Harry said and then kissed Ginny on the top of her head as she raised her head from his shoulder and then joined Hermione who had waited for her. Harry sat a bit higher on his bed and realized that Professor Dumbledore was now smiling at him. He had a feeling that the small peck on Ginny's head had a lot to do with that.

"Err…how did I suffer magical exhaustion Sir? I mean I only did the Patronus charm about three times?" Harry asked perplexed.

"Do you ever read the theory behind a spell, Harry?" Professor McGonagall asked. Her anger seemed to have mellowed down considering the fact that she addressed him as Harry.

"What? I did it this time. The book said that the Patronus charm needs you to be magically very strong but that was all. It never mentioned anything about magical exhaustion." Harry replied making Professor McGonagall shake her head in annoyance while Professor Dumbledore smiled broadly.

"Wrong answer, I am afraid Harry." Professor Dumbledore said. "What she meant was did you read the part where it was mentioned about the number of Patroni that you could conjure at a time?"

"Err, no I didn't read that part." Harry replied.

"Let me give you a practical demonstration, Harry." Professor Dumbledore said as he took out his wand and performed the Patronus spell. A silver phoenix burst out and flew about the room. "Now watch carefully, Harry." He said and then said the incantation for the Patronus again and again and again, but with no result whatsoever. It was then that Harry realized as to what had happened.

"Oh, the second and the third Patroni weren't supposed to be conjured at all were they?" Harry asked and Professor Dumbledore shook his head. "Accidental Magic?"

"Perhaps." Professor Dumbledore said. "But it can be confirmed only if you try it out again. Now the biggest question is how and why in the world did you learn to cast a Patronus?"

"From a book." Harry replied as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. "And I learnt it because I wasn't particularly fond of the dementors and wanted to be able to fight them if the need ever arose."

"Anybody from your notorious quartet who can cast it as well?" Professor McGonagall asked a bit irritably.

"Well, Ginny can but her bird does not have a recognizable shape yet." Harry replied and Professor McGonagall's eyebrows disappeared into her hairline at that while Professor Dumbledore smiled genially.

"Very Well, Harry. Let me congratulate on achieving something that a very few grown-up wizards can manage. The Patronus charm is one of the most difficult charms to cast ever. Have a good night's rest now and unless you have any questions for me, I shall be taking my leave now." Professor Dumbledore said.

Harry only nodded and Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall departed only to be replaced by Ron, Hermione and Ginny almost immediately.

"Hey guys did anyone pick up my broom?" Harry asked and a lot of uncomfortable looks were exchanged between Ron and Hermione but Ginny seemed to know nothing about it.

"It flew away and hit the whomping willow, Harry." Hermione said as she got out a dustpan. It held the remains of his Nimbus 2000, his first broom ever and his undefeated broom, the broom which he flew underwater and in a blizzard, the broom which helped him kill a basilisk. It had finally met it's end.


	20. Christmas Chats

Madame Pomfrey insisted on keeping Harry in the Hospital Wing for the rest of the weekend and while he had half a mind to run away he stayed put.

Sunday had been an interesting day to say the least. He received no less than five slaps on his face. One each from Alicia, Angelina, Katie, Hermione and again from Ginny. Those were to remind him that Quidditch wasn't bigger or more important than his life. The general opinion seemed that, with one hand already on the wand to conjure the Patroni, Harry should not have taken the second hand off the broom to catch the snitch. The twins of course had photographed all five slaps and enlarged the pictures and had the girls sign them before presenting the photos to Harry as a get-well gift.

The only sore spot of the entire episode was the fact that Harry's Nimbus was now surely out of commission. Professor Flitwick had paid Harry a visit to congratulate him on the Patroni and he had tried to repair the broom but he could make no difference to the mass of wooden bits and twigs either. Harry knew that the broom was beyond repair but he refused to allow Madame Pomfrey to throw the bits away. He knew that he wanted to hold onto the bits for as long as he could.

Madame Pomfrey released Harry on Monday morning and actually thanked him for not running away before she discharged him. She however did insist that he should not have been conscious as quickly as two hours, but she had taken that in stride by now and had declared Harry to be a medical anomaly. She also warned Harry against performing the Patronus charm for at least another week as she really wasn't sure whether he had recovered completely from magical exhaustion or this was some kind of back-up energy that his body was drawing on.

Harry and Ginny both felt that they knew exactly 'why' Harry was managing to recover so quickly but they had no way of confirming it. They had no books to speak of on 'Soul Bonds' nor did they really want to ask anyone. The only person they could think of asking was Ragnok, but that was possible only during the summer-vacation. This was too big a thing to ask in a letter. It would be of course confirmed if Ginny suffered from an ailment and recovered much quicker than expected but that was not an option that Harry really wanted to explore.

"_Letters waiting for the eight of you Harry." _Ginny sent over the link as Harry set off from the infirmary. Harry didn't have to ask who the 'eight' meant.

He made his way to the Great Hall to have all the students of the Great Hall stare at him. He tried to ignore everyone as he made his way quickly to the Gryffindor table and slipped between Ron and Hermione even as Ginny silently handed over his letter to him. Harry quickly tore open the seal and was surprised by what he read. It seemed that Professor Dumbledore thought that the punishment handed out by Professor McGonagall was indeed too harsh and had altered it. He hadn't altered the points deducted or the detentions handed out but cancelled the Quidditch ban and had placed the time-limit of three months on the Hogsmeade-ban. Harry knew that the rest of the students were getting banned from Hogsmeade only because of him but that could not be helped. He borrowed a quill from Hermione and simply wrote 'Okay, Thank you very much.' On a piece of paper and then attached it to the owl who was still waiting for his reply.

The only thing that soured Harry's mood was the howler that Ron received from Mrs. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley's voice could be heard all over the Great Hall as she berated Ron for being out of line. However the most surprising aspect of the entire situation was that Ron hardly seemed bothered by it. Even as the howler burst open, Ron kept on calmly eating his breakfast as is nothing was wrong. Parvati Patil too received a howler but it's volume was much less softer than the Weasley-howler. But she too wasn't affected by it very much. One thing was very clear that none of the Gryffindors regretted walking out of that class.

Earlier in the morning Percy had of course tried to lecture the Gryffindor third years about their deplorable behaviour but Ron had slammed the door on Percy's face and had been done with it.

The lessons that followed were quite interesting. Most of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were fascinated at the fact that Harry could produce a full-fledges corpeal Patronus. Hermione was actually quite mad at him for not telling her that he could actually conjure a Patronus now. Hermione, Harry noticed had been under a lot of stress through the year and could always be seen working on something or the other. True to their promise the rest hadn't pestered her about her 'secret' nor had they tried to actively find out what she was up to. But now, Harry was regretting it. It was quite unlike Hermione to actually miss an opportunity to learn something new. But she hadn't been to the Room of Requirement ever since they discovered it. The Hermione of last year would never have done that. Now that he thought about it he was quite glad that she wasn't coming as he and Ginny had finally started reading about Animagus transformation and Hermione would have blown a gasket if she ever found out about it. It was not only illegal but also very difficult and a lot of things could go wrong. But Ginny was insistent that she wanted to do it, so they did it and frankly the idea of turning into an animal at will pretty much excited Harry too.

Potions was a big pain. Malfoy had finally taken off his sling and was doing spirited impressions of Harry falling from his broom but he realized that no one found it funny as a few seconds before falling Harry had fought off a lot of dementors with a spell that probably no current student in Hogwarts was able to perform and also caught the snitch to boot. Snape was unbearable in Potions and was taking away points for things like breathing too heavily. But that was to be expected, the Gryffindors had challenged his authority and for all practical purposes gotten away with it as no-one seemed to care about the points and the detentions as long as Snape was shown down. Snape would never be able to command the same kind of respect again nor would he be able to instill the same kind of dread among his students anymore. He was staring down at the Gryffindors with looks that really could kill but it seemed that no one was intimidated by them anymore. Even Neville could concentrate on his Potion and ignore the fact that Snape was breathing down his neck. But Harry had a feeling that Snape had been warned by Professor Dumbledore not to retaliate in any manner for Snape could much more of a git than he was being. But that did not stop Snape from taking away a total of 80-points from Gryffindor before the period was through for the day.

On top of it Professor McGonagall had asked them to apologize to Professor Snape. However since she hadn't specified verbally, Hermione composed a letter and then later attached it to the legs of one of the school-owls and had it sent over to him.

The first day of detentions had gone without any hitch. They were all being made to clean toilets and corridors with Filch overseeing them. This time Harry made sure that the moment the clock hit the two hour mark, he was off.

In their next defense class, Professor Lupin was certainly looking ill. The full-moon was it seemed was really unkind to him. The Gryffindors were rather tense as they entered the class as they didn't know what to enter from Professor Lupin. By the time they had all sat down on their desks, Professor Lupin had arrived and was passing the previous homework assignments and he addressed the class afterwards.

"Well, I daresay that you had quite an interesting Defense period last time." Professor Lupin began. "Now for a few minutes please consider me to….to be simply Remus Lupin; not Professor Lupin and please answer my questions honestly. I promise you that I wouldn't hold the answers against you under any circumstances. All-right?" There was a general murmur of agreement around the class so he continued. "Now, why exactly did you walk away from the class that Professor Snape was conducting? Now I don't quite completely believe the version where Harry threw a desk towards him and then bewitched the others to walk away as well, but there had to be a certain reason as to why you all walked out. Can I please know the reason?"

Almost immediately a cacophony of voices broke out in the classroom with everyone except Ron, Hermione and Harry shouting out their reasons at the top of their voice. Even Neville wasn't holding back. Harry heard the word like unfair, criticism, unjust, pointless and farcical and after a few moments he tuned out of the discussion. After about a minute the rest of the students quietened down and sat down and invariably everyone started staring at him.

"WHAT?" Harry cried out a bit irritably.

"Considering the fact that you walked away first; I believe this is the time when you share your reasons for walking out, Harry." Professor Lupin replied evenly.

"Err…." Harry said uncomfortably. The truth was that Snape was on an all out mission to ensure that someone realized that Professor Lupin was a werewolf. But if he said so, even in some covert manner and conveyed that message to Professor Lupin that would mean accepting that he knew a lot.

"_Make up some story about how Snape had been irritating and was trying to pull Professor Lupin down." _Ginny prompted.

"_Do you ever listen to your own classes?" _Harry asked.

"_No somehow I already know everything of second year and yours is always way more interesting." _Ginny sent back.

"Well, Snape—Professor Snape was being rather nasty, unjust and downright spiteful and trying to pull you down, so we got a bit irritated. Then he also insulted Hermione and said something that a Professor should never call the best student in his class. It was just a farcical and stupid lecture and Snape was…..err….Professor Snape was accomplishing everything but teaching so I simply walked out as a mark of protest and the rest followed later, Sir." Harry finished.

Professor Lupin didn't say anything but simply stared at Harry as if evaluating his answer. "Was it worth 800-points and a month of detention?"

"I don't regret it, but that is just me." Harry replied and almost immediately there were sounds of support from the rest of the students as well.

"Does that mean that if I ever get a bit strict with you or call you names to spur you on towards success, you all will walk out on me too?" Professor Lupin asked after a moment.

"It's much deeper than simply being nasty, unfair and saying things that as a Professor, Snape shouldn't be saying Sir." Ron spoke up. "If there was any other Professor for Potions, Harry would have been treated as a Potions prodigy but he barely gets a passing grade everytime. He worked on the summer essay for six straight weeks, made something like five rough copies and submitted an essay which was 40-inches long and was given 40 while even Crabbe and Goyle got more than that. Even before Harry had spoken a single word, Snape was out insulting him and frankly degrading him and it's not only Harry. It happens with every one of us but it is more pronounced with Harry and it hurts but we can't do anything about it. We all have learnt more about Potions from Hermione and Harry then what we have learnt from Snape, in two and a half years. Snape throws a lot of shit at us Harry is the only one who can stand up to Snape and excuse me but throw Snape's shit right back at him. We got the chance too last week and we grabbed it with both hands." Ron replied making most of the class and especially Hermione stare at him with eyes as wide as a saucer. The Ron of the breakfast-table had spoken up.

Professor Lupin could do nothing but nod and continue with the lesson. They had a very enjoyable lesson. Professor Lupin had brought along a glass box containing a hinkypunk, a little one-legged creature who looked as though he were made of wisps of smoke, rather frail and harmless looking.

"Lures travelers into bogs," said Professor Lupin as they took notes. "You notice the lantern dangling from his hand? Hops ahead –people follow the light -- then --"

The hinkypunk made a horrible squelching noise against the glass.

Harry got up to leave and was almost at the door when Professor Lupin stopped him again. "Wait for a moment please, Harry. I believe congratulations are in order for successfully performing the Patronus charm. I am sure you must have heard it already but very few adults can perform it and absolutely no-one can produce more than one Patroni at a time."

"Err…thanks Sir." Harry replied.

"If you don't mind, can I see it?" Professor Lupin asked.

"Yeah sure." Harry replied as he whipped out his wand.

"NO!" Hermione screamed out. "Madame Pomfrey had warned you not to perform it for at least a week and the week isn't up yet." Hermione reminded him.

"Yeah well she'd told me that I wasn't supposed to wake up for another day. I think that I will take my chances." Harry said as he thought about the happiest moment of his life and then said the incantation. "**Expecto Patronum!**" Almost immediately the silver jaguar jumped out of his wand and traveled around the room twice before disappearing.

"Some kind of a big cat?" Professor Lupin asked.

"Err… I think that it is a jaguar. I don't know how, but I just know." He said and Professor Lupin merely nodded in reply and for a moment Harry thought that Professor Lupin looked a bit disappointed that the Patronus was a jaguar. It was almost as if he was hoping that it would be something else.

As the days progressed the detentions became more and more easy to pass and as the eight of them had them together it was almost like some kind of bonding exercise for them.

Two weeks before the end of the term, the sky lightened suddenly to a dazzling, opaline white and the muddy grounds were revealed one morning covered in glittering frost. Inside the castle, there was a buzz of Christmas in the air. Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, had already decorated his classroom with shimmering lights that turned out to be real, fluttering fairies. The students were all happily discussing their plans for the holidays. It was then that Harry realized that Hermione, Ron and Ginny were staying at Hogwarts while the rest of the Weasleys were going to return to the Burrow. Harry also knew for a fact that Hermione and her parents always went skiing during the Christmas break, she had done so for the last two breaks.

"Why are the four of you staying back for Christmas?" Harry asked after Professor McGonagall had passed by their table.

Ron, Hermione and Ginny looked at him as if he had grown an extra head. "Are you going to return to the Dursleys?" Hermione asked him.

"No, but that is not the point." Harry replied.

"Then in sweet and simple words, we are all staying to give you company over the break." Hermione replied as if that was simplest thing in the world.

"Are you crazy? You don't need to stay away from your families to give me company." Harry shot back.

"_What is this all about Harry?" _Ginny asked over the link.

"What are you talking about mate?" Ron asked.

"Exactly what it sounds, mate." Harry replied even as he was looking straight into Ginny's eyes. "Hermione for how many years have you been going to that ski-resort with your parents? Why would you want to break that tradition now? And Ron if I remember correctly you pretty much moped the last two years because your parent went to Romania the first time and to New York for that conference last year. _And Ginny don't even get me started on all the happy memories about Christmas that you have been sharing with me. _I mean how odd would it be for Bill and Charlie to come all the way to the Burrow and discover that you and Ron are here at Hogwarts?Why exactly would you want to give all that up and stay here in the castle?"

"Because—because you would be alone otherwise." Ron replied.

"_Exactly my dear Harry."_

"No, I wouldn't be alone. I have Hagrid to visit. Argentum is here too. Then Chucky and the house-elves would be here and so would be Peeves and last but not the least Hedwig would be here too. I certainly am not alone for heavens sake. You can't give up Christmas time with your families just because I would be alone at Hogwarts." Harry insisted. _"I wouldn't really be alone. I can talk to anytime I want." _Harry sent to Ginny.

"Reason number 43, why Percy should apologize. You always and always keep others' happiness above your own." Ron stated. Finally frustrated with Harry's insistence that they should not give the frozen-cold shoulder to Percy the twins and Ron had started with the count.

"Don't tell me you are still keeping track of that count." Harry replied a bit frustrated.

"You could come with us to the Burrow." Ginny suddenly said.

Harry's heart leapt at that but after a moment he realized that that would never happen as long as Sirius Black was on the move. Ginny seemed to have picked up his train of thought too as Harry could feel her disappointment too. Meanwhile Ron was making plans about sending a letter to Mrs. Weasley and then getting Harry onboard and what not. Harry realized that Hermione was looking rather skeptical about it as well.

"Hold your horses, Ron. It will never happen." Ginny said after a few seconds.

"But WHY?" Ron shouted out. "Mum loves Harry." He said as if that solved all their problems.

"Sirius Black, Ron. Dumbledore would never give permission and it would be really, really dangerous. The burrow is not protected by half as many wards as those surrounding Hogwarts. Harry would be an open target there." Hermione said in a defeated voice.

"But Black's already broken into Hogwarts once too inspite of the protections and all. Then Harry was staying at the Leaky Cauldron alone too." Ron argued.

"Which would be an easier target Ron?" Ginny explained. "Hogwarts or the Burrow? The Minister of Magic himself was there to check Harry into the Leaky Cauldron; do you think that he would not have arranged for some kind of protection for him?"

"Oh." Was all that Ron replied.

A Hogsmeade visit had been announced for the last day of the term but Harry noticed that there was a lot less excitement among the rest of the Gryffindors as compared to other times when Hogsmeade visits had been announced. Ginny noticed that Fred and George had been missing from the common-room for extended periods of time ever since the announcement. Not that they were ever-present in the common-room but they always liked to be at the centre of the attention and it was quite unlike them to be away from all the attention for such lengths of time. They finally returned from wherever they had been to and had wide grins on their faces.

"Do I even want to know what you two have been up to?" Ginny asked as they came and sat near them.

"Ah little Gin—Gin your confidence in us is indeed appreciated but we haven't been up to any 'nonsense'. In fact we have been endeavoring to increase school-unity and you shall see the reason tomorrow at breakfast. Don't miss it at any cost." The twins said in a sing-song voice and then moved on towards their dorms.

"Is it just me or is anyone else getting the feeling too that, everybody else knows what the twins have been up to?" Harry asked as he saw more than a few Gryffindors from the sixth and the seventh give the twins a thumbs-up or even a simple nod of the head.

The quartet as Professor McGonagall had dubbed them was at breakfast right on time, just as the twins had ordered them. The entire Gryffindor House was present at the table too way before breakfast officially got underway. The Professors turned up at around ten minutes to eight and everyone could almost feel the anticipation in the air. There had been a very few times when the Gryffindor table had been full when it wasn't expected to be and those times had been rather unpleasant for the Professors.

Professor McGonagall almost mentally started ear-marking the students most likely responsible for whatever was to follow and the only ones who could possibly pull something against the entire school were the Weasley twins and the quartet or the two together. Hoping that she was wrong and all the Gryffindors were simply excited about visiting Hogsmeade she concentrated back on her tea.

Professor McGonagall was almost right, almost. Breakfast started right at 8 O'clock and nothing happened for a long time. It was almost 8:50am and only ten minutes later the swarm of students would be making their way towards Hogsmeade. The Great Hall was now practically full of students and Harry was beginning to wonder if the twins had messed up somehow. But then suddenly there was enormous explosion and fireworks began exploding in the Great Hall. About thirty seconds later the explosions stopped and a huge banner unfurled behind the Long Table.

**Thank you, for participating in the experiment and for your sake we sincerely hope that we were wrong. If we weren't then we are afraid to announce that no-one is going to proceed to visit Hogsmeade today. Well the Gryffindors can but most of the Gryffindors have decided not to as a show of solidarity and those who didn't happen to be sitting at a non-Gryffindor table. You can try of course but we wouldn't recommend it if you want your dignity intact.**

—**You know us.**

"_Only the twins can dare to use that pseudonym." _Harry mentally said to Ginny.

"_The two and only Fred and George." _Ginny replied back. _"Though I would sincerely like to know what it is all about."_

It took everyone a few moments to read the banner and then a slow nervous laughter could be heard in all the students. Harry looked around and realized that of all the Gryffindors only Percy was sitting at the Ravenclaw with Penelope Clearwater, his girlfriend. Harry could see a lot of apprehension among the non-Gryffindor students as to what their next action should be. It was then that Harry realized that none of the Gryffindors were in heavy cloaks which would be a necessity to go to snow-covered Hogsmeade.

"What nonsense is this?" Snape seemed to have lost patience as he got up from his table and started streaking towards the exit of the Great Hall. He reached the doors without any problems and then he could be seen heading towards the actual doors of the castle and a huge sigh of relief could be heard across the Hall but that turned into dead silence as five seconds later Professor Snape came running into the Hall and with a constipated look on his face and without a moment's delay ran straight towards the dungeons.

"_Why do I get the feeling that he is going to be spending a lot of time on a toilet-seat?" _Ginny said and Harry only smiled in reply. Suddenly there was another explosion and another banner was unfurled.

**Once is accident.**

The Great Hall meanwhile was completely silent. Malfoy seemed to have bullied Crabbe and Goyle into walking out of the Great Hall's doorway. Just like Snape they made it past the doors and within two seconds they could be seen running towards the dungeons with the same constipated expression on their face as was the expression on Snape's face. The Gryffindors meanwhile burst into laughter and another small explosion was heard and another banner was unfurled.

**Twice is coincidence.**

"_Aren't these muggle expressions from some famous movie?" _Harry mentally asked Ginny.

"_Told you, Bill took us to a lot of action-movies in Egypt." _Ginny sent back.

Now it seemed that no one wanted to get out of the Great Hall and towards the Castle's exit-doors. Harry meanwhile noticed Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore having a furious conversation; well Professor McGonagall was talking furious while the headmaster was smiling serenely as usual. Professor Flitwick seemed to be excited about the whole thing and Professor Lupin had a look that clearly said, been there done that.

Then out of the blue Percy got up with his wand in hand. As soon as he got out of the Great Hall he started throwing spells randomly at the walls. He reached the gates again and even as he was throwing the spells he suddenly stopped. A moment later he was running into the Great Hall and towards the marble staircase leaving a lot of Gryffindors especially the twins in splits. There was another explosion as another banner unfurled.

**After the second time, anyone who tries is a bloody fool.**

After that no-one tried to get out of the doors of the castle. For the first time ever not a single student visited Hogsmeade during a scheduled visit. The twins were absolutely smash-hits through the day in the Gryffindor common-room. The twins let on, privately that all the affected didn't actually need to 'shit' but it was just a feeling. It was a powder that they had been inventing and it activated once you went near a rune inscribed on a stone. They had found a book the rune in the library. They had managed to produce enough of the powder and then they had sprayed it all over the plates on the three tables with an invisibility charm on it. It was a neat idea but it could never last long. Their best bet was that the magic off the stone lasted for three or four hours and then the stone was useless. Professor McGonagall had paid a cursory visit to the common-room to 'apprehend' the culprits but Fred and George as usual had hidden their tracks rather well. Feeling a lot better, Harry went to sleep knowing that from the next day he would have the entire castle practically for himself. He had heard Professor McGonagall talk with Professor Flitwick and he knew as a matter of fact that he was the only student who was staying over the Christmas break in Hogwarts.

Harry woke up on the first day of vacation only because Ginny was nudging him.

"_What Gin? I was sleeping." _He sent back grogilly.

"_For someone who manages to wake up at 6:30am when he wants to jog you sure are a late-riser otherwise, Potter." _Ginny said. _"Anyways the carriages leave in thirty minutes, haul your ass down to say goodbye to us."_

"_Yes, Ma'am." _Harry replied as he dragged himself into the shower.

Fifteen minutes later Harry was racing down the marble staircase even as the first of the carriages started arriving. Ron, Hermione and Ginny had just started dragging out their trunks when Harry reached the Great Hall.

"Hey, Gin do you want some help?" Harry asked and then started dragging her trunk without waiting for an answer.

"How you manage to get away with calling her 'Gin' is beyond me. She readily hexes anyone else who does that." Ron said.

"I didn't realize that I was calling her Gin, actually." Harry replied verbally. _"Do you mind me calling you' Gin'?"_

"Nope, Mr. Potter or I would have made my displeasure known way before this." Ginny replied impishly. _"It's actually the way you say it Harry. Most others call me Gin as they know that it irritates me. But you never knew that and simply started calling me and it sort of feels sweet when you call me that. I can't explain it but it just feels nice when you call me Gin."_

"_Ever happy to be at your service Milady." _Harry said as he loaded the trunk onto the carriage and then on an impulse gave a very quick peck on the cheeks to Ginny. _"Bye Gin I will miss you."_

"Bye Harry. I might comeback early actually." Hermione said as she got on.

"See you Harry and I still feel that…….." Ron began but Harry interrupted him.

"We've gone over everything remember? Anyways now bye, you guys see you after new-year." Harry said as Ron and Hermione got onto the carriage. Ginny was yet to board it. She hugged Harry and brushed her lips against his cheeks and he could almost feel every inch of her lips as they touched his cheeks.

"_I will miss you too, Harry. Don't end up doing something silly." _Ginny said as she got into the carriage and almost immediately the carriage started moving forward. Harry watched the carriage move towards the gates and he had a mad impulse to actually jump onto it and go with Ginny. He was going to miss her. Ginny's presence had really been vibrant and full of life. She was something that Harry never had before. Someone who loved him. He knew that he still didn't quite grasp the concept of love but whatever he felt always felt so very brilliant.

For the first time his life felt somewhat secure not the highly insecure one and a half years that he had before this. Sure he still had his very own godfather out to kill him and a werewolf guardian who showed no signs of acknowledging that he was Harry's guardian-appointee (that one hurt) but it was surmountable. The dementors got out the worst memory in him and he hated that. He still hadn't figured out which memory it was with Voldemort's laughter and a young woman's scream but it certainly did overwhelm him. He had felt powerless against the dementor and he hated that. That's why the Patronus charm was so important for him. There needn't always be a flashlight at the top of his head which would dispel away all the darkness. As long as he could see that light towards the end of the dark tunnel he would work towards it.

Harry had a feeling that it was something similar with Ginny's obsession about the Animagus transformation. The seventh child of a very large family and to top it off the only girl child, she must have been always under a host of restriction that were meant to protect the darling of the family. No wonder she actively detested authority. Her freedom and independence meant a lot to her and she would go to any lengths to protect them. Being the youngest of the household of course meant that she must have been babied a lot and that is why the zest to prove herself burned so brightly literally in her eyes. If she did manage to complete the Animagus transformation, it would mean that she had proved herself to her family and more importantly she had proved herself in her own eyes.

"_Ten on Ten Potter. Brilliant deductions. Now you better make sure that I can prove 'myself' to 'myself'." _Ginny said playfully.

"_We are gonna have a long way to go with that-one Gin. We need to get really good at all types of transfiguration except conjuration. Then………" _Harry began but was interrupted by Ginny again.

"_I did read that too, Harry. You are already quite good at transfiguration. Almost as good as Hermione but you just don't put enough effort in it as much as you do in charms and Potions and for the past few months Defense. You stop once you get the spell."_

"_Yeah, I suppose. But I guess then we can continue with the same plan of getting over all types of transfiguration except conjuration before we actively start working on the actual Animagus." _Harry sent back.

"_Yeah, but how about if we at least do the Potion and identify our form first?" _Ginny asked.

"_We could do that but you will have to give me you word that under no circumstances will you try your transformation unless you and I both agree that we are ready. There are a hell a lot of things that could go bad and we simply cannot afford that. Okay?" _Harry asked Ginny.

"_All-right, Harry I promise. But please I really want to know my form." _Ginny sent back.

Harry made his way back to the empty Gryffindor common-room even as Ginny decided that she was going to try and take a nap as Ron and Hermione were starting to get on her nerves with all their arguing. Harry reached the common-room to find the various broomstick magazines that Wood had left behind. Harry had been using a school broom during practices and he knew that he needed a new broom before the Ravenclaw match. The only problem was that Harry didn't want to buy a Nimbus 2000 as that felt a lot like cheating on his old one. Nimbus 2001 was out of the question as Malfoy had it. A Firebolt was out of the question as Harry knew that, it would probably clear out his vault and he really didn't want to do that. Cleansweep 8 was an option but it was considered to belong to an earlier generation and it certainly wasn't fit for a seeker.

His first day alone in Hogwarts was pretty lonely. He finished up all the homework assigned to him, including the Potions essay. He had temporarily suspended his drive to prove that a Potions essay could be written which would force Snape to give full-marks to. It was quite stupid to expect Snape to even pass Harry in any of the essays given the current scenario. Hell he barely expected Snape to pass him in the final exams given the current scenario.

At dinner that night Harry didn't really feel like having dinner in the Great Hall with all the Professors. The twins had left the Marauders-map with him so he knew that the only Professors in the castle were Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, Lupin, Snape, and of course Hagrid. It wasn't exactly the kind of Dinner Company in which he would be very comfortable on top of it he would probably have to mind his manners a lot and having three meals a day with Ron had certainly rubbed off on him.

So he made his way to the kitchens to enjoy dinner with the house-elves. He had quite an enjoyable dinner with Chucky and even convinced Chucky to have his meals delivered straight to the common-room only for the duration of the holidays. Harry still hadn't decided what he was going to give Chucky as a gift. He knew that Chucky hated gifts but Harry felt that she deserved one more than anyone else. He had mail-ordered the rest of his Christmas gifts not that the list was huge. The only people he had to get gifts for were the twins, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid and Ginny. For a fleeting moment he had also wondered whether he should give a gift to Professor Lupin but it was Ginny who had brutally shot that down. He had got Hermione a watch just as he had promised and Ron a book about goalkeeping because he knew that Ron was interested in keeping and this was Wood's last year so the slot was for the taking the next year. He couldn't decide what to give Ginny so he had simply gone with a box of chocolates which Harry knew that she liked.

The twins' gift was much more difficult and Harry and Ginny had worked on it together. Ginny had an inclination that they really wanted to take their pranking seriously considering the fact that they were inventing all the stuff. They still maintained that they were inventing it just for fun but the gleam in their eyes told a different story all-together. So, Harry and Ginny had decided to gift them, books. Books on Advanced Techniques of Potion-brewing and also books on Properties of Ingredients. They were not exactly off the rack books and had cost Harry quite the galleon but he hoped that it would be worth it. Harry doubted that anyone ever had gifted books to the twins but he had a feeling and hoped that they would like it.

Harry went to sleep on the first night of the vacation satisfied that he had accomplished almost everything that he was expected to accomplish and now he had about two weeks to literally laze around the castle and think about an appropriate gift for Chucky and Peeves. But as it happened with Harry that hardly ever was the case.

Harry woke up the next morning to incessant hooting. Harry woke up and put on his glasses only to notice about four screech owls carrying something thin and long sitting at the foot of his bed. How they ever had managed to get inside the window was quite beyond Harry. Somebody nipped Harry's ears and he realized that it was Hedwig.

"Hey, girl where have you been? I haven't seen you in some days." Harry said as he gently stroked her feathers. It was then that he saw a letter attached to her legs. "Who's sent me a letter, girl?" Harry asked as he tried to remove it but Hedwig jumped aside and flew over to the package that the screech-owls were carrying. "You want me to open the package first?" Harry asked and Hedwig gave him a 'yes' hoot.

Harry walked over and detached the package from the legs of the screech-owls. The name on the parcel only said '**Harry Potter,** **Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts'**. He ripped the parcel open and gasped as a magnificent, gleaming broomstick rolled out onto his bedspread.

"I don't believe it," Harry said hoarsely.

It was a Firebolt, identical to the dream broom Harry had gone to see every day in Diagon Alley. Its handle glittered as he picked it up. He could feel it vibrating and let go; it hung in midair, unsupported, at exactly the right height for him to mount it. His eyes moved from the golden registration number at the top of the handle, right down to the perfectly smooth, streamlined birch twigs that made up the tail.

Harry simply couldn't believe it. He slipped on his sneakers and ignoring the fact that he was only in his pajamas he grabbed the Firebolt in his hands and jumped out of the nearest window. A second later he had mounted the broom and was flying off on the fastest broomstick that mankind had ever built and was it fast or what! He aimed for the Quidditch pitch and exactly thirty seconds of unbelievably fast flying later he was flying over the Quidditch pitch.

It was better than he'd ever dreamed. The Firebolt turned with the lightest touch; it seemed to obey his thoughts rather than his grip; it sped across the field at such speed that the stadium turned into a green-and-gray blur; Harry turned it so sharply that he was sure that it would have made half the stadium scream if it were an actual match, then he went into a perfectly controlled dive, brushing the grassy field with his toes before rising thirty, forty, fifty feet into the air again.

It was simply unbelievable, the Firebolt was precision and speed personified. Harry simply blazed around the pitch for about half an hour before the speed-induced adrenalin started diminishing and he started to feel cold and decided to head back to the Gryffindor tower. He landed in his dorm to find, Hedwig eating bacon from the basket that Chucky had obviously sent up to the dorm.

"Hey girl that was one unbelievable ride. Can I read the letter at least now?" Harry asked as he grabbed a piece of toast and then took the letter from Hedwig's talons and turned it over before opening it. It had the stamp of **Qualité Quidditch Magasins, Paris-** **Ordre de hibou** on it. Someone had ordered it from France of all the places. There was also a small note at the bottom of the note which said **Imprimé dans le magasin**As Harry didn't know French he couldn't understand it. Thinking that it must be some kind of Warranty or something Harry opened the envelope and started reading it.

_Dear Harry,_

_I hope you liked your new broom. I saw your old broom being destroyed by the Whomping Willow and hope that the Firebolt is an able replacement. I have been watching you fly at all your Quidditch practices and otherwise too, you fly really well. Way better than your father. Please consider it as thirteen birthdays' and Christmas' worth of presents from me._

_--Your Godfather._

_P.S: The next-time you summon the Knight Bus do stand on the footpath._

Harry's mind had gone numb for a few moments after finishing the note and then a gaggle of thoughts started swimming through his mind. His Godfather, the man out to kill him. The man who had tried to get into the Gryffindor common-room to kill him had just sent him a bloody expensive broom. NO, the most expensive broom ever built by mankind. What in the world was going on? And BLOODY HELL Sirius Black had been watching him practice Quidditch! No he had been watching practiceS. Hell, he had been to the Quidditch match where there had been two hundred dementors. How in the world did they manage 'NOT' to catch Sirius Black? What the hell was Sirius Black who could avoid the dementors and how could he order a bloody Firebolt? What had he done, just popped out to France and walked into a store and walked out after ordering a bloody Firebolt? No it had come through owl-order and Hedwig was carrying the letter, so Black must have obviously used Hedwig to send the original order. Bloody hell! Hedwig knew where Black was and Hedwig TRUSTED Sirius Black. What was going on? Whoa Sirius Black had been at Privet Drive too. How in the world would he have otherwise known about Harry jumping out of the way of the Knight Bus? What in the bloody hell happened to all the wards that were supposed to be around that place? This was way too much information for Harry to handle by himself.

"_GINNY WAKE UP FOR HEAVENS SAKE!" _Harry mentally shouted out to a sleeping Ginny.

On Christmas-eve Harry was nudged awake by Ginny who likes most Weasleys only woke up early on Christmas mornings for gifts. Harry grabbed Mrs. Weasleys' jumper from the small pile of his gifts and put that on and also put on the socks that Ginny had knitted him. They were not exactly of his size but it was the effort that mattered, he had after-all ended up giving chocolates to her. No sooner had he done that he simply ignored the rest of the gifts and once again started reading through the literally ocean-load of papers that Ragnok had sent him.

"_C'mon Harry loosen up today at least. It's not like you are going to find some hidden information only because you are going through it for the third time." _Ginny said mentally.

"_I don't get this Ginny, how can they simply sentence someone to Azkaban for life without even holding a bloody trial. There is simply too much of a mess that happened on the 1__st__ of November 1981 ……" _Harry began 'again' and Ginny interrupted 'again'.

"_Harry I have heard the entire synopsis at least thrice before this. Ever since Ragnok has mailed you those records you have not even stepped out of your dorm. You only read through them and fly on your Firebolt. If you don't go down today, I am going kick your arse the moment I return to Hogwarts. Is that clear? C'mon now give Chucky those chocolates. We have many days to discuss this Harry." _Ginny sent back angrily and Harry conceded. He hadn't really even showered since receiving the records from the ministry.

"_I want the damn truth."_

"_And how exactly will you get it by not even getting out of your dorm? You can ask Professor Dumbledore when the time is right, I suppose or when you are ready to reveal Ragnok and a lot of other things." _Ginny replied.

"_Yeah, I guess you are right."_

"_By the way, Harry I think that you have now officially become the twins' favourite person in the world." _Ginny sent.

"_Err, why exactly?"_

"_Your gifts to them, you idiot." _Ginny replied. _"They absolutely loved their books and I think that mum is going to have a memorial built in your honour too. You must be the first person in the world who has made the twins happy on receiving a book."_

"_Out present remember dear Gin?" _Harry sent back.

"_Well, I did give them those socks too." _Ginny replied. _"But I think that this is the last year that I am knitting anything for anyone." _Harry only laughed in response.

A nice-hot-long-long-long shower later, Harry picked up the box of chocolates that he had ordered for Chucky and the box of watches that he had bought for Peeves and set foot out of his dorm for the first time in three days. No sooner had he reached the common-room when he heard the tell-tale signs of the portrait hole opening and he panicked for a moment but a moment later Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall stepped into view and he relaxed.

"Ah, Harry." Began Professor Dumbledore. "Merry Christmas!" He greeted.

"Merry Christmas, Sir and Ma'am." Harry greeted back and Professor McGonagall acknowledged it with a small nod of her head.

"Ah, Harry how have you been during the break? We haven't seen you in the Great Hall for meals?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Well Sir, it only has been the Professors so I daresay that I would have been a—a conversation outcast and I would have probably hindered a lot of your discussions too, Sir." Harry said remembering the fact that there was only table at the centre of the Great Hall and he knew that he would have been expected to share the table with the Professors. "That and my table-manners aren't that great either." Harry replied with a smile.

"And you are not a conversation-outcast among the elves, Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked with raised eyebrows.

"Err…." Harry wondered what exactly was he to reply as Chucky had been quite religiously sending the basket of food to his dorm. But Professor Dumbledore saved him from replying.

"Never-mind, Harry. Please make sure that you are present at the dinner today. It is after-all Christmas and Christmas dinner is family an occasion for families to be together and Hogwarts is a big family in a lot of ways."

"Yes, Sir I will be there." Harry replied.

"Who are the presents for, Harry?" Professor McGonagall asked, her sharp eyes missing nothing.

"Friends Ma'am." Harry replied without thinking. "I—I am sending them by owl to them today. Yes, I just remembered them today." Harry tried to correct himself in time though he knew that both the Professors were going to see through it.

Professor McGonagall shook her head in response. "See you at dinner, Harry." Professor Dumbledore greeted and then stepped out of the portrait-hole.

"Do read a book on manners before presenting yourself for dinner, Potter." Professor McGonagall actually joked before following the Headmaster out. Harry spent an enjoyable day with Chucky and then Peeves. Chucky was shy about receiving the box chocolates but finally accepted it when Harry took one from it. Peeves of course was quite literally blown away by the gift. He seemed to have developed a liking for watches and didn't mind the six watches that were present in the box. He didn't seem to mind that they were quite cheap and not exactly top of the model variety. As long as they were of different colours and were working he was happy. Harry wondered how Hermione would feel if he was to tell her that Peeves shared her obsession of watches too.

"_She would probably throw away all her watches." _Came Ginny's instant reply and Harry could only smile in reply.

As dinner-time approached Harry pulled on the sweater that Mrs. Weasley had knitted and Ginny-knitted socks and made his way to the Great Hall. For some reason, Harry had been carrying the letter that came along with the broom everywhere, he couldn't explain why but it just kept his mind on the things that were happening around him. All of the Professors and Filch were already there. Professor Lupin wasn't there as Christmas-eve had been a full-moon.

"Merry Christmas!" said Dumbledore as Harry approached the table. "... Sit down, sit down!" He said gesturing towards one side of the table. Harry sat at the only chair available which was between, Madame Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall. After the Headmaster's customary 'crackers' everyone seemed to have settled down at the table.

"Nice to see you Harry when you are healthy and not in need of half of my medical cabinet." Madame Pomfrey said. "At least I don't have to worry about making an erroneous judgment."

"Well, you could make an accurate prediction about my future medical situations." Harry replied making most of the table except for Snape, chuckle softly.

"Dig in!" he advised the table, beaming around.

As Harry was helping himself to roast potatoes, the doors of the Great Hall opened again. It was Professor Trelawney, gliding toward them as though on wheels. She had put on a green sequined dress in honor of the occasion, making her look more than ever like a glittering, oversized dragonfly.

"Sybill, this is a pleasant surprise!" said Dumbledore, standing up.

"I have been crystal gazing, Headmaster," said Professor Trelawney in her mistiest, most faraway voice, "and to my astonishment, I saw myself abandoning my solitary dinner and coming to join you. Who am I to refuse the promptings of fate? I at once hastened from my tower, and I do beg you to forgive my lateness..."

"Certainly, certainly," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "Let me draw you up a chair –"

And he did indeed draw a chair in midair with his wand, which revolved for a few seconds before falling with a thud between Professors Snape and Hagrid. Professor Trelawney, however, did not sit down; her eyes were firmly planted on Harry and they were making Harry a bit irritated more than anything.

"My dear boy the Grim hangs 'grimly' on your aura." She began, making Harry almost cringe at the corny statement. "Death follows you everywhere." Trelawney said even as she kept on staring at Harry.

"Well as long as it doesn't overtake me I am perfectly fine with it following me everywhere." Harry replied immediately and this time Professor McGonagall burst into outright laughter followed soon by Hagrid. Harry was getting a bit irritated with the entire Grim-thing and Professor Trelawney looking at him as if he would be falling dead at anytime.

"_You bet, she really is a phony." _Ginny sent over eve as she was enjoying the Weasley Christmas dinner.

"Mr. Potter will risk it, Sybill." said Professor McGonagall impatiently. "Do sit down; the turkey is getting stone cold."

Professor Trelawney sniffed impatiently herself and then lowered herself into the empty chair, eyes right at Harry's chair and mouth clenched tight, as though expecting a thunderbolt to hit the Harry's chair. Professor McGonagall poked a large spoon into the nearest tureen.

"Tripe, Sybill?"

Trelawney continued to ignore Professor McGonagall. "You should not joke about the future or death. You never know when death will overtake you. It might be right now or within the next few minutes."

"Yes, Ma'am I will be very careful about it and try to remain a step ahead of it." Harry replied trying very hard to keep his voice even and free of any malice. His temper was starting to get better of him.

"Good…" Trelawney seemed to have taken that as encouragement. "Then you can come to my chambers and I would like to gaze into the crystal-ball and help you keep away from the grim."

"Thank you, Ma'am but I prefer a broom to keep me ahead of death." Harry replied. This time some of the irritation had indeed slipped into his tone.

"If you say so Harry Potter, but don't blame me if the grim does overtake you." Trelawney said. Harry bristled in irritation and he looked around the table and realized that everyone had a smile playing on their lips and he got annoyed even more. For some reason she was still staring dead at Harry, she looked around once more and said, "But where is dear Professor Lupin?"

"Full moon, last night." Harry blurted out hoping that, at least that would shut her up. Suddenly there was dead silence around the table and sounds of cutlery falling onto the plates could be heard. Harry took the opportunity to finally get his first forkful of food towards his mouth. It was then that he realized 'what' exactly he had said.

"OH SHIT!" Harry cursed out loudly.

"_Oh shit all-right and you thought that you would be a conversation-outcast!" _Ginny said over the link even as Harry could feel her laughing a bit.

"_Trade lives with me, Gin." _Harry mock-pleaded making Ginny laugh outright this time and Harry was sure that she would be receiving strange looks at the Burrow. Harry looked around the table cautiously and realized that everyone was staring at him actually alternately staring at him and Professor Dumbledore.

"So, you found out Remus Lupin's secret?" Professor Dumbledore asked serenely.

"Err….yes." Harry replied cautiously.

"How did you come across it?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"_Shall I tell him the truth?"_

"_No, Harry. It is bound to open a bag of worms." _Ginny replied.

"After the chamber of secrets it was a bit of a downgrade actually." Harry replied with his now oft-used line whenever he wanted to give out half-truths. "We suspected for quite a time and Professor Snape's attempted lesson on werewolves confirmed it."

"_I am impressed." _Ginny sent mentally. _You almost didn't lie."_

Professor Dumbledore frowned at Snape before continuing. "Who all does this 'we' include?"

"All the Weasleys, Hermione and I….err actually, all the Weasleys except for Percy." Harry replied.

"Is it safe to say that the six of you; inspite of knowing who Professor Lupin is, have no problems with him continuing to teach at Hogwarts?" Professor McGonagall asked in a brisk business-like tone.

"As long as he doesn't show-up for dinner on a full-moon, we do not and frankly I suppose should not have any problems. I mean treating werewolves like outcasts for all 365-days of the year when, I suppose they actually pose any kind of danger only for 12-days of the year is unfair and unjust." Harry replied. "That and Hermione would kill us for showing any-kind of unwanted prejudices."

"I knew yer six are good persons." Hagrid said as he raised his wine-bucket in some kind of gesture, Harry supposed.

"I must say that I am immensely proud of the six of you." Professor Dumbledore began. "It is very difficult to overcome prejudices that have prevailed in the society for centuries and look beyond them and look at the person behind the label." Professor Dumbledore paused before continuing. "Have you told Lupin that you know about his lycanthropy and yet do not care about it?"

"Err….no we haven't Sir." Harry replied.

"Do tell him Harry." Professor Dumbledore said. "It would mean a lot to him, coming from you."

Harry raised his eye-brows at that. _"Don't do it Harry." _Ginny advised reading Harry's thoughts perfectly.

"_I think that I want the can of worms, Gin. I simply want the truth and some answers." _Harry replied back.

"In what capacity, Sir?" Harry asked and Professor Dumbledore simply raised his eyebrows in question. "Why would it mean a lot coming from me, Sir? Is it because, I am the seeker of Gryffindor or because I am the Boy-who-lived or is it because James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black were the best of friends at school?"

This time the silence was deafening. It was as if someone had cast a universal silencing charm on the Professors sitting at the table. For the first time, Professor Dumbledore was looking uncomfortable. Even Professor McGonagall was looking flustered. All the Professors actually were looking quite uneasy. But Harry wasn't done.

"The same Sirius Black who broke out of Azkaban to kill me. The same Sirius Black who was the Best man at my parents' wedding. The same Sirius Black who is also my legal Godfather." This time Harry was sure that he had magically stunned the Professors. "When were you going to tell me, Sir that my godfather broke out of an unbreakable prison to kill me?"

Professor Dumbledore did not answer for almost an entire minute. "H—how did you find out?"

Harry almost smiled sadly. "As I said, Sir after the Chamber everything is a big downgrade. The minister is not exactly the man to trust with a secret. His replies to my questions about Sirius Black were enough." Harry replied. "That and I also overheard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talk about it."

"Harry you have to understand that there are a lot more issues behind than a simple deranged man out to kill you….." Professor Dumbledore began but Harry cut him off.

"What if I tell you that I think that Sirius Black is not out to kill me?" Harry said and this time the silence was beyond deafening. Nobody spoke for over ten seconds.

"How bigheaded and arrogant can you be, Potter?" Snape began with a sneer.

"Grow up and open your eyes, Professor Snape. I am neither arrogant not am I big-headed. Sirius Black was at Privet Drive the night that I ran away from my relatives. I was alone and unarmed for at-least ten minutes before I summoned the Knight Bus. If he wanted to, he could have killed me even before the ministry knew that I had ran-away." Harry said and now everyone was listening with a very keen ear and the Turkey had certainly gone stone-cold.

"That's not all." Harry continued. "Sirius Black had been watching all my Quidditch practices. I have had about 30-odd practices till the term concluded. So I guess that I can safely say that he could have killed me ten-times over by now if he wanted to." Even Snape could not come-up with a reply to that.

"That's not all is it?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Barely getting warmed-up Ma'am." Harry replied. "I think the ministry needs to fire the dementors. Sirius Black was right at the match when the dementors invaded the pitch and those idiots went after me instead of trying to arrest Sirius Black."

"How do you know about all this Harry?" Professor Dumbledore asked. "Have you been in contact with Sirius Black?"

"No Sir I haven't been in contact with him per se." Harry said and continued at the raised eyebrows. "He wrote me a letter actually."

"HE WROTE YOU A LETTER?" Professor McGonagall screamed out.

"_Take a picture, Harry. I don't think that we are ever gonna see the Professors like this again."_ Ginny who had excused herself from the Christmas dinner was now enjoying the 'show' so to speak.

"In a manner of speaking, Ma'am. It was printed and it was signed 'Your Godfather' and it cam along with my new Firebolt that Sirius Black gifted to me." Harry replied. By now all the Professors were quite beyond shock. Harry was giving them too much information to process. They were sitting securely in the castle with the idea that Black's break-in was nothing but an anomaly but Harry's revelation had brought down those notions of security crumbling down.

"You have a FIREBOLT!" It was Professor McGonagall who for all her exterior sternness and aloofness over Quidditch seemed to know a lot about it.

"Have you flown the broom?" Professor Flitwick piped up.

"Yes Sir, everyday for the last five days. It really is a magnificent broom. It is precision, balance and speed personified." Harry was now quite enjoying this as for the first time since he started at Hogwarts he had more information than the Professors had.

"That was very dangerous Harry." Professor Dumbledore began. "The broomstick could have been cursed. It might have hurled you mid-air."

"No, I doubt it. It was an owl-ordered. Delivered straight from Paris. Nobody involved in Quidditch worth his or her salt would have cursed a Firebolt. He or she would have died of the guilt and the Quidditch Gods would have taken appropriate action as well." Harry replied.

"_Quidditch Gods, Harry?" _Ginny asked. _"That's a new concept."_

"Can I—we see the letter, Harry?" Professor Dumbledore asked and Harry silently handed over the letter that came with the broom. Professor Dumbledore took the letter and silently read it, looked at it for a few seconds and then passed it around. Professor McGonagall read it and then Snape practically snatched it out of her hands.

"WHAT nonsense is this, Potter?" Snape started snarling away as soon as he finished reading it. "This is a printed letter. Anybody in the world could have sent you this. The heights of your incompetence and inanity keep on gaining new heights."

"Give me some credit Sir. I do jump into many situations with half-baked information and purely instinctively but I do know what I am doing, just like the time I walked out of the Werewolf class." Harry replied with a half sneer himself and saw Snape bristle with anger at the reference.

"That is a very good point actually Harry. How can you be sure that Black has sent the letter himself?" Professor Dumbledore asked. Harry had never seen him so out of control and puzzled and not knowing what he was to do.

"I know for a matter of fact that 1250-galleons were transferred from vault number 108, the Black family vault to the account of the French Quality Quidditch supplies. There is only person in the world who can currently operate that vault and that is Sirius Black. I am apparently the other one, but only after I attain majority. So I can say with authority that Sirius Black did indeed operate the account and that note certainly came from him." Harry finished in a strong confident voice.

"That still does not mean that Sirius Black is not out to kill you." Professor Dumbledore said after a few seconds.

"Nor does it prove that he is out to kill me, Sir." Harry replied.

"PLEASE Potter how stupidly-thick and dimwitted can you be? Just because someone gifts you a shiny new broomstick you think that that person is innocent of all crimes?" Snape it seemed simply couldn't keep his mouth shut and it was finally starting to irritate Harry.

"Well, I am afraid that I am going to have to tell you that, technically Sirius Black is as innocent as a new-born is, technically of course." Harry said.

"What are you talking about Harry?" Professor Dumbledore's face had an indescribable look on his face now. Harry had a feeling that Professor Dumbledore never liked it when he was out of control.

"Innocent until proven guilty, Sir. Sirius Black never received a trial did he?" Harry asked with raised eyebrows and he could noticed all the Professors getting a bit uncomfortable around the table including Hagrid who surprisingly hadn't uttered a single word since the entire dialogue had begun.

"DON"T talk about things that you don't understand Potter!" Snape was positively bellowing out now. "There were hundreds of witnesses who saw Black blow all those muggles to pieces. Black's trial would have been the shortest in history, Potter! There were hundreds of witnesses….." Snape was rambling now and Harry's temper was reaching a breaking point too and he interrupted Snape.

"There WERE and there still ARE scores of witnesses who would swear that YOU, Professor Snape were a DEATH-EATER." Harry screamed out and a gasp was heard around the table. "The only reason why you didn't share a cell in Azkaban with Sirius Black is because you got a trial and Professor Dumbledore implored your part-innocence. Otherwise the only living beings you could have intimidated would have been other fellow death-eaters not Gryffindor first years." Harry finished very coldly. He looked around the table and realized that now everyone was staring wide-eyed at him. Snape had gone paler than usual which was saying a lot. Anymore and he would resemble Peeves. Professor Dumbledore had a frown on his face however he almost looked partly-impressed. Professor McGonagall looked like she was ready to hurl Harry into detention for the rest of his life. Nobody else was ready to speak either.

"_I think that you broke them, Harry." _Ginny said laughter evident in her tone. _"Though I would really like to know what the things that you don't understand are."_

"_Me too, Gin. Me, too."_

It was Hagrid who spoke up. "I had told yer Headmaster. Told yer at the start of the year Staff Meeting. He's got Lily's maturity and James Potter's brains and sixth sense. Keep five things from him and he'll dig up fifteen which ya didn't even know about." Hagrid said as he took a large gulp from the bucket-like wine glass in front of him and Harry has a feeling that the wine did a lot of talking from that part. A deadly silence hung over the table and the turkey might as well be used for the next year. It probably had got all frozen again.

"How did you know, Potter? To whom have you been talking, Potter?" Snape asked in a dead whisper.

"We suspected you of trying to steal the Philosopher's stone to bring Voldemort back to life and trying to kill me too. Did you really think that we wouldn't find out about you?" Harry replied evenly.

"I suppose that the 'we' again included all the former six?" Professor Dumbledore asked in a tone that Harry couldn't quite understand. Harry simply nodded so Professor Dumbledore started speaking again after a few moments. "It is not as simple as it looks Harry. While it is perfectly true that Black did not receive a trial, I am afraid that there is undeniable proof against him. Killing those thirteen muggles is the least of his crimes. While I cannot tell you about his other crimes, rest assured that he most certainly is guilty."

Harry did not reply immediately. He was annoyed that once again something was being held from him. But he pushed that annoyance away and started thinking. Professor Dumbledore's admission had practically confirmed his theory about Black somehow being related to his parents' death. Then suddenly Harry remembered the promise that Mr. Weasley had extracted from him. 'Promise that you will never go and search for Sirius Black yourself.'

"_What do you think Gin?"_

"_Too many coincidences to ignore, Harry. The twins would call you a bloody-fool if you ignore them."_

"Sirius Black being arrested barely a few hours after Voldemort killed my parents was no coincidence, was it? Peter Pettigrew's death on the morning of the 1st of November isn't a coincidence either. Am I right?" Harry asked and this time he was sure that Professor Dumbledore simply didn't see it coming any form or figure.

"How do you know all this, Harry? And what more do you really know?" Professor Dumbledore finally asked in resignation.

"That was the last rabbit out of the hat, Sir. The only other thing that I know is that Professor Snape hated my father in school and by extension most probably Sirius Black and now me. And I got all the information from public records at the Ministry. Had to pay a neat galleon for them but I got all the related documents." Harry replied. "And you still haven't answered my question but I will take your question as an affirmation. Voldemort's attack, Sirius Black's arrest and Peter Pettigrew's death are all related in some twisted manner. The only question is how."

Nobody spoke anything at the table. Even Professor Trelawney was silent but Harry had a sharp suspicion that she had actually fallen asleep as she wasn't even opening her eyes. Professor Dumbledore meanwhile smiled sadly before replying.

"You are too shrewd and perceptive and resourceful for your own good, Harry." Professor Dumbledore said and then paused for a long time before continuing. "You asked me right at the start why I never told you that Sirius Black was your Godfather and the fact that he had broken out of prison to kill you. I never told them to you because I knew that you are too shrewd and perceptive and resourceful for your own good. I will tell you the entire reason but I do want you to promise me that……."

"…….I won't go and search for Sirius Black myself." Harry finished the sentence and couldn't help but grin at the look on everyone's face at the table. "Mr. Weasley had me promise that before I boarded the Express but he never told me the reasons and I had simply forgotten it until a few minutes ago."

"Very well Harry and I will most certainly hold you to that promise." Professor Dumbledore said before continuing. Harry had a feeling that everyone at the table knew about it as they were all looking very queasy and uncomfortable. "I knew beforehand that Voldemort was going to try and go after your parents and it was decided that the best recourse would be to go into hiding. Of course it wasn't a very easy thing to hide from Voldemort. I advised them to use the Fidelus Charm. It is an immensely complex spell involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find -- unless, of course, the Secret Keeper chooses to divulge it. As long as the Secret-Keeper refused to speak, Voldemort could search the village where Lily and James were staying for years and never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting room window! The vital thing about the spell of course is the fact that the Secret-keeper should not reveal the location. I had offered myself to be the secret-keeper but your parents refused it and they made Sirius Black the secret-keeper. A week after the charm was performed Voldemort showed up at your parents' house and killed them and then tried to kill you but of course failed. I knew that Sirius Black was the secret-keeper and without his master Sirius Black found himself to be on the run. Within hours instead of the aurors catching Black, Peter Pettigrew managed to track him down and probably tried to attack Black. Black then somehow managed to kill Pettigrew and blew up the street killing thirteen muggles."

Harry's heart had plummeted to unknown depths. Sirius Black the man he had been for all practical purposes defending up until ten minutes was actually the man responsible for death of his parents. He was responsible for the fact that Voldemort found out his parents when he wasn't supposed to have found them. He had betrayed their trust and they had paid with their lives. His parents were dead because their best friend betrayed them. It was the worse possible form of betrayal. Anger like he had never known began coursing through his body. Harry could hear Ginny calling out to him, but he ignored her. He was too bust getting angry and then suddenly the rational and logical part of his brain woke up. The part of the brain which desperately wanted him to have a godfather and belong somewhere.

Trying to belt down the anger Harry began thinking over it and after a minute it still came down to the same point. Sirius Black never had the chance to defend himself. Even bloody Snape the known death-eater and Malfoy the death-eater on the sly had a chance to defend himself. For all he knew Voldemort might have somehow overridden the charm. But Professor Dumbledore insists that Sirius Black was guilty. Fact of matter was that his parents were dead and Sirius Black their secret-keeper spent ten odd years in Azkaban for it and Harry still didn't know what the truth was. Professor Dumbledore would not be lying. But could he be mistaken? Perhaps and perhaps not. Then why hadn't Sirius Black killed him so far? Why had he gifted him the Firebolt? Instead of all his questions being answered Harry had ten new ones to contemplate now. He had to know the answers and the complete answers could only be provided by Sirius Black. It was almost five entire minutes before Harry spoke up and in those five minutes nobody moved or said a thing at the table. Nobody even touched the food.

"That is one promise that I am glad we didn't shake hands on. I think I would like to ask Sirius Black why my parents are dead when he was supposed to be protecting them." Harry said slowly and firmly and then picked up the letter from the table and started walking back to the Gryffindor Tower.


	21. Sirius and Snape

Harry spent the rest of the Christmas vacation trying to avoid Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Lupin who seemed to have decided that they really wanted to talk to him. He managed to avoid it the first couple of times by pure luck and then started actively looking at the Marauder's Map. The moment he saw anyone around the Gryffindor Portrait, he would jump onto the Firebolt and fly off with the Map firmly in his pocket. He would return only after whichever Professor had been there, left the Gryffindor common-room. Harry had spotted Snape lurking about the Portrait-hole too but he never entered it for some reason.

Harry had felt a bit guilty about avoiding Professor Lupin. He could understand why Professor Lupin wanted to talk with him but, Harry wasn't quite ready to talk about it with anyone. Talking about it with Ginny was more than enough. Besides Harry was sure that the endeavor of the visits must have been only to talk him out of doing something 'stupid'. Though Harry didn't quite know what 'stupid' would entail here. Sirius Black sure had been at the Quidditch practices and the match, would flying now mean being stupid as well.

Harry had also wondered whether he should be even using the Firebolt that had been gifted to him by a traitor and for the very reason why his parents were dead. But then it was a Firebolt and as Ginny put it, 'the Quidditch gods would never forgive him, if he let a Firebolt go waste'.

On New Year's Eve it seemed that the Professors had decided that they wouldn't leave until they had talked with Harry. It was just after breakfast when Harry had spotted the three Professors enter the common-room and it was after lunch-time now and they still hadn't left the common-room. Harry supposed that Professor Dumbledore could simply summoun him to his office and the game could be up anyways.

"_What do you think, Gin?"_

"_To tell you the truth Harry, I can see no reason why you should be avoiding them."_

"_Yeah, I guess you are actually right." _Harry replied and decided to go into the common-room. Harry stuffed the Marauder's Map back into his pockets and jumped onto the Firebolt and headed for the common-room. Harry flew into the common-room and was greeted by a loud scream from Professor McGonagall.

"Hello, Ma'am." Harry said as he jumped off the broomstick. The three Professors were sitting around a table and having tea even as Professor Lupin and Professor Dumbledore were reading all the notes that Harry had drawn up from the enormous dump of papers that he had received. Harry supposed that they found the papers dumped all over his dorm. He guessed that he might as well thank them for cleaning up the mess.

"D—do you fly in like that everytime, Harry?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Harry only raised his eyebrows at that. "You haven't quite seen me take-off from the window, yet. Have you, Ma'am?"

"Why, Potter what do you do?" Professor McGonagall asked. Harry was about to reply when he decided that he was in a playful mood.

"Observe closely." Harry said as he took the Firebolt in his hand walked towards the window, climbed onto the sill and jumped off it with the broom un-mounted and still in his hand. Even as he jumped off he heard Professor McGonagall scream again. A moment later, Harry re-mounted the broom midair and flew in a circle and then came in through the window again this time to be greeted with a white-faced Professor McGonagall.

"Y—you jump out of a window with the broom still in your hands? ARE YOU COMPLETELY CRZAY?"

"Crazy also serves a synonym for passionate, so yes. I am crazy about flying." Harry replied impishly.

"A crazy boy with the fastest broom ever built in his hands. Quite a dangerous combination." Professor Lupin remarked even as Harry noticed a faint smile on his face and Professor Dumbledore was smiling serenely as usual.

"There is nothing safe about flying hundreds of feet in the air whilst perched on a stick of wood either." Harry replied altering Professor Dumbledore's comment from a year ago.

"That is one point that I will concede to you, Harry." Professor Dumbledore said. But Professor McGonagall apparently wasn't finished.

"Do you do this all the time, Potter?" She asked in her normal brisk and professional tone. Harry nodded and so she continued. "YOU DO THIS ALL THE TIME AND NONE OF THE PREFECTS STOP YOU? What are they doing, sleeping?"

"Err…no they tried to stop me but this was the only way we could keep me being the seeker a secret back in first year and it was also casually mentioned that you knew that we were keeping my appointment a secret. So everyone kind of assumed that you knew about me jumping off too and nobody even gives a second glance to it anymore." Harry replied and Professor Dumbledore chuckled heartily and Professor Lupin smiled too.

Professor McGonagall composed herself before speaking again. "You will immediately cease these crazy leaps out of the window or I will be forced to confiscate your broomstick. Is that clear?"

"Crystal clear, Ma'am." Harry replied and he knew that the conversation was going to turn towards some rather issues now.

"This is quite a compilation of facts that you have out together out of hundreds of pages of random information. You don't do anything half-way do you?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"No, I guess that I don't do anything half-way. And I will promise you that I will not stop doing that either." Harry replied confidently and firmly. He knew that implied meaning of that statement wasn't going to be missed by anybody in the room. Harry had practically told them in no uncertain terms that he was not going to back down from his pronouncement of Christmas day. "And I am ready to shake hands on that one too." Harry added almost for effect.

The three Professors exchanged grim looks with each other. It was Professor Dumbledore who spoke up after a few moments. "Harry I must implore you, not to go after him. Sirius Black is very dangerous and in all probability unhinged. I cannot explain to you as to why he hasn't killed you yet but then I cannot claim to be an expert of criminal psychology. He might be waiting for something to happen or really there are innumerable things that we could contemplate about. The imperative thing here is to make sure that you don't do something stupid and foolish."

Harry did not reply but was pointedly staring out of the window practically ignoring the appeal. It was Professor McGonagall who spoke up. "Of course we would need to redefine what doing something stupid and foolish means. No-one after all has tried to fly in a blizzard or underwater or stick a sword down a basilisk's throat." Professor McGonagall proclaimed with sarcasm.

Harry stared at her. Sarcasm from McGonagall was probably rarer than a smile from Snape who had last publicly smiled a year and a half ago. "Are you sure you are Professor McGonagall and not Sna—Professor Snape?" Harry asked with raised eyebrows.

"Harry, the dementors, the aurors and the entire ministry has been unable to find him. There is very little chance that you will find him." Professor Lupin said ignoring Harry's quip.

Harry did not reply but simply raised his eyebrows at that. "I will manage. I somehow end-up accomplishing impossible stuff anyways."

None of the Professors could really come up with a reply to that. "At least promise this Harry that you will not actively search for Sirius Black. I have full faith in the wards of Hogwarts and I can assure you that it will be impossible for him to enter again. But we can't protect you if you go outside the wards and I know for a fact that you have the capacity and the ability to move freely inside and outside the castle at will and undetected."

"I understand Sir and I won't do anything foolish or stupid." Harry replied evenly.

"Do I have your word on that Harry?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

Harry didn't reply immediately. "I finally figured out what I hear when Dementors come near me. Do you know what I hear, Sir?"

"What do you hear, Harry?" Professor Dumbledore asked, clearly quite confused at the question.

"I didn't realize it at first but only a couple of days ago I realized that I had heard the laugh before. It is Voldemort's laughter. Voldemort's laughter as he murdered my parents. His laughter and my mother's screams as she pleaded with him to spare my life. That's the only memory that I have of her." Harry said and the three Professors in the room were looking highly uncomfortable and Professor McGonagall was looking almost nauseous.

"If you hear your mother scream like that and you know that she was in that position only because a man whom she trusted betrayed her, you wouldn't promise anyone anything to anyone either, Sir." Harry replied quietly and then simply got up and started walking towards the stairs that led to the dormitory.

It was almost an entire minute Professors McGonagall spoke up in the common-room. "What do you think, Albus?"

Albus Dumbledore sighed before replying. "In my career as a teacher there have been eight students whose actions I have never managed to foretell or preempt dare I say. Tom Riddle, the four of you;" He said pointing towards Remus Lupin. "The Weasley twins and now Harry. And Very frankly the actions of the rest of the seven put together pale in comparison as compared to Harry's, in school at least. So I am afraid that I can only say that we will have to be prepared to expect the unexpected."

The rest of the school returned back on the 2nd of January and Harry dragged the twins. Ron and Hermione to the common-room after they had went to bed to explain all the developments of the Christmas break. Harry was quite glad that he had insisted that he be allowed to complete the entire story before they asked him any questions because to say that the four were shell-shocked was quite an understatement and their reactions were even more remarkable almost. For the first time ever, the twins were actually speaking out of tandem. Hermione was asking something about the legal-issues and the lack of a trial while Ron was only opening his mouth and then closing it over and over again. Ginny almost burst in laughter at the reactions and Harry had to remind her to look surprised just as the rest them were. It was almost five minutes later that the twins and Hermione quietened down and Ron took the opportunity to finally ask what he was dying to ask for the longest time.

"You got a real FIREBOLT? A REAL FIREBOLT? THE FASTEST BROOM IN THE WORLD?" Ron blurted out at the top of his voice and Harry could only laugh in response and the rest soon joined in too. Nobody noticed a panicked, fat and grey rat scurrying up the dorm-stairs.

The very next day Harry was cornered by Oliver Wood and the rest of the team. Knowing exactly why they were all there, Harry simply got out his Firebolt and held it out to Wood who took it reverently and after an awe-struck inspection passed it to Angelina.

"All-right guys and girls;" Began Wood. "We should probably keep the news that Harry has a Firebolt a secret from the rest of the teams. It would give us that extra-advantage." Wood said as he donned the hat of the tactician.

"I think Harry and thus we have enough advantage already, Oliver." Angelina said. "It is after-all the fastest broom ever and I really don't think that it is going to remain a secret once somebody spots only a scarlet blur flying around the Quidditch stadium." Oliver however insisted on keeping the Firebolt a secret and the rest of the team agreed. Meanwhile the twins spread around the news that Harry had got a Nimbus 2001. That also meant that Harry would have to resort to jumping out of the window again. Harry supposed that he would simply have to keep it a secret from Professor McGonagall.

Classes started again and it seemed that Trelawney was still intent on killing off Harry. She had apparently begun Palmistry and she had informed that Ron's best friend (which would be Harry) had the shortest life-line ever. How she came up with that little information was quite beyond anyone's comprehension. It was Defense against the Dark Arts that Harry was rather anxious about. The twins had Professor Lupin, the first thing after the term started and he had asked them to wait after the class and had talked with them about his 'problem' and thanked them for giving him a chance. And sure enough after the end of the class, Professor Lupin addressed the three.

"Harry, Ron and Miss Granger would you three please wait up for a few minutes. I would like to discuss a few things with you." He said and three simply nodded their heads and waited for the rest of the students to leave the classroom. Professor Lupin then shut the door and pulled up a chair to sit in front of the three.

"Well, I believe I owe the three of you quite a big vote of gratitude. Thank You." Professor Lupin said and then took a deep breath before continuing. "There aren't many people who have looked past my….my being a w—w—werewolf and accepted me inspite of it."

"Thank Hermione, Sir. She is the one who threatened to whip us if we showed any prejudice." Ron joked making Hermione smack Ron's head in response and Professor Lupin laughed. "Plus you are the only good Professor that we have had in the last two years. Quirrel was a stuttering fool and Lockhart was…..well Harry would have probably killed him if he had been conscious when Lockhart pulled his Valentine's Day stunt."

"I also believe that Harry decided to walk out of the class that Severus conducted was because he began teaching about Werewolves. Am I right Harry?" He asked.

"Err…yeah, I suppose so." Harry replied.

"While I more than appreciate the sentiment behind the decision, Harry I am not sure that it was worth all the trouble that ensued." Professor Lupin said evenly.

"It was. Snape was playing out an old school-grudge and that could have damaged your career beyond repair and you know it." Harry replied firmly. "I doubt that he would appreciate it very much if it was revealed to the entire school that he is a former death-eater. People living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and it's not like you live in a glass-house by choice while he does or did so by choice."

"You do realize that I will be teaching about werewolves too." Professor Lupin remarked and Harry only raised his eyebrows at that.

"And I am sure that you would be slipping in nuggets of information that would point to you being a werewolf." Harry replied dryly.

"Well, I can only say thank you again and I cannot tell you, how much I appreciate it." Professor Lupin said. "Now if you don't mind I would like to talk to Harry in private, please." He said motioning towards Ron and Hermione who promptly got up and left the classroom.

"Well, Harry I don't know how to really start this conversation." Harry supposed that Remus Lupin and not Professor Lupin was now doing the talking. "I tried talking to over the break but you kept avoiding all of us and then of course your reply quite shook me up."

"You could start by telling me, why you decided never to meet me for over 12 years." Harry replied failing to keep the bitterness out of his voice. Remus Lupin almost recoiled at the tone.

"I wanted to but you were at your aunt's and Dumbledore said that your aunt had insisted that no-one from the wizarding world ever come to her house unless it was an absolute emergency." Remus Lupin replied.

"Weren't you supposed to be my guardian considering that my godfather had all but murdered my parents and my godmother had been tortured to insanity?" Harry asked and Lupin's head snapped up.

"H—how do y—you know that?" Remus Lupin asked but he smiled and continued on. "Never mind I should have known that you would know everything." He paused before continuing. "There were more than enough complications, Harry. For starters I am not exactly a very well-off person……."

"My parents had a trust-fund in place to take care of that." Harry interrupted.

"I couldn't have lived off your money, Harry and besides what was I to do every month? What if I had bitten you? I couldn't have provided you a very happy and loving environment. And there are laws against werewolves being guardians." He replied.

"Those laws were passed in 1986. Five whole years after I was orphaned." Harry helpfully added with a frown and Remus Lupin's eyes went as wide as saucers. "I can research whenever I want to, Sir."

Remus Lupin smiled sadly before replying. "It is the truth Harry. Even when James and Lily told me about appointing me as your guardian I had resented it. And after you wee hailed as a hero, law or no law, no one would have accepted it. I will admit that I could have perhaps written to you after you started at Hogwarts as your aunt had made it very clear that no wizards should come anywhere near her house unless it was absolutely necessary; But I could not bring myself to do it. I was afraid as to how you would react to me. I didn't know whether you would reject me or accept me for who I am." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I was devastated that Halloween. You are the only connection that I have left to the people who ever cared for me. The only friends that I had. After 'that' day I was left literally friendless. Three of them dead and the fourth one, a traitor who killed the other three. I don't think that I could have handled your rejection." He finished rather wearily and Harry could almost see the lycanthropy added years in his eyes.

"You could have not told me that you were a werewolf." Harry said only half-heartedly.

Remus Lupin smiled softly before replying. "I don't think that I could have looked at you in the eye while having a personal relationship and tell you about my lycanthropy. When I began teaching, Hagrid spent many an hour trying to convince me that the son of Lily and James would never hold anything against a werewolf but I couldn't work up the courage." Remus Lupin smiled again before continuing. "Though he did warn me that you would probably end-up guessing about me. He was right in every manner. But then………" He left that hanging.

Harry didn't reply immediately as he thought over everything that Remus Lupin had told him. He had always thought that he would be very angry when he came face to face with Lupin's acknowledgment about his connection to him. But Harry found it impossible to be angry with him. Harry could almost feel his pain at the loss of all his friends. Harry couldn't even imagine a situation where he lost any of his fiends. That Halloween would have hurt a lot and probably leave some real deep scars. Add the full moon to it and it really was a recipe for distress and depression. He really couldn't stay angry at Remus Lupin or hold a grudge.

"_I would have expected nothing less of you, Harry." _Came Ginny's quip, who seemed to have been following the entire conversation.

"So, Professor Lupin how did my parents get together?" Harry enquired with a smile on his face and a moment later Professor Lupin's beamed before quite enthusiastically answering Harry's question.

Harry was quite happy the way things were with Remus Lupin. The two had developed a healthy and pleasant camaraderie out of class. Harry learnt a lot about his parents from him. His mother had apparently hated his father for the first five years but by the end of the last few years they were inseparable and were christened the Star couple of Hogwarts. Of course it also helped that they were the Head Boy and the Head Girl. By the time graduation came by it was absolutely apparent to even blind persons that they were a made-for-each-other couple. Harry enjoyed the talks with Remus Lupin but his relationship with Professor Lupin was as professional as ever. So far they had skipped over the issue of Sirius Black but Harry knew that it was going to pop up in their talks sooner or later.

The rest of Harry's classes were going fine as well. Hagrid had moved on to salamanders and his classes were slowly becoming very popular among students. Though many times Harry had to remind Hagrid that even the seventh year students were a lot smaller and weaker then he was. Snape was being a complete arse in Potions. Harry had thought that perhaps he would tone down his insulting and name in light of the fact that six Gryffindors knew who he really was but as Ron put it, Snape knew that they would in all probability never reveal it to anyone. Harry's and Ginny's Animagus efforts were coming along pretty nicely too. Harry supposed that they had both covered most of the transfiguration portion up to the sixth year but they were still far away from being absolutely perfect in it. So they had also delayed making the Animagus Potion as Harry knew that they would be tempted to try it out and that could be quite dangerous.

A few weeks into the term, Slytherin played Ravenclaw and Slytherin won by a huge margin and took first place on the table. That meant that Gryffindor needed to win their next match against Ravenclaw by a huge margin too. Of course if they simply beat Slytherin in their last match the points wouldn't matter but that didn't stop Wood from increasing the number of practices to four per week but Harry did not mind it as he simply loved flying his new Firebolt.

The only real blip seemed to be Hermione. She was showing signs of tremendous stress barely a couple of weeks into the term. Her immense work-load seemed to be literally breaking her back. Every night, without fail, Hermione was to be seen in a corner of the common room, several tables spread with books, Arithmancy charts, rune dictionaries, diagrams of Muggles lifting heavy objects, and file upon file of extensive notes; she barely spoke to anybody and snapped when she was interrupted. The trio or rather the quartet hardly spent anytime talking or joking around now. They hadn't spent a single minute talking about anything except studies for a long time.

It also did not help that Ron and Hermione's arguments had reached an all together new level and every single argument centered around their pets. Crookshanks it seemed had doubled his efforts to catch Scabbers and Harry was now beginning to believe Ron that the cat had it for Scabbers. The entire thing meant that the exchanges between Ron and Hermione were rather tense and uncomfortable.

A couple of days before the Ravenclaw match, things between Ron and Hermione reached a crescendo. Harry was completing his homework when a strangled yell echoed down the boys' staircase. The whole common room fell silent, staring, petrified, at the entrance. Then came hurried footsteps, growing louder and louder – and then Ron came leaping into view, dragging with him a bed-sheet.

"LOOK!" he bellowed, striding over to Hermione's table.

"LOOK!" he yelled, shaking the sheets in her face.

"Ron, what --?"

"SCABBERS! LOOK! SCABBERS!"

Hermione was leaning away from Ron, looking utterly bewildered. Harry looked down at the sheet Ron was holding. There was something red on it. Something that looked horribly like --

"BLOOD!" Ron yelled into the stunned silence. "HE'S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"

"N—No," said Hermione in a trembling voice.

Ron threw something down onto Hermione's rune translation. Hermione and Harry leaned forward. Lying on top of the weird, spiky shapes were several long, ginger cat hairs. It seemed that Crookshanks had finally managed to get her prey.

It looked like the end of Ron and Hermione's friendship. Each was so angry with the other that Harry couldn't see how they'd ever make up. Ron was enraged that Hermione had never taken Crookshanks's attempts to eat Scabbers seriously, hadn't bothered to keep a close enough watch on him, and was still trying to pretend that Crookshanks was innocent by suggesting that Ron look for Scabbers under all the boys' beds. Hermione, meanwhile, maintained fiercely that Ron had no proof that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, that the ginger hairs might have been there forever, and that Ron had been prejudiced against her cat ever since Crookshanks had landed on Ron's head in the Magical Menagerie.

The day of the Gryffindor v/s Ravenclaw match arrived and for the first time since Harry could remember the team wasn't down at breakfast at an ungodly hour. They still were an entire hour early but it paled in comparison as compared to the last couple of times when they had been down even before the sunrise. However the moment other students started entering the Great Hall Wood lead the team away to the Dressing Rooms. Harry was carrying his broom in a cover as he still hadn't revealed to anybody except a few that he had a Firebolt. It seemed that even the Professors had forgotten that Harry had a Firebolt; of course his other revelations that day were quite stunning to say the least.

Wood spent the rest of the time until the match pacing in the dressing rooms while the rest of the team was being entertained by brainless humour from the twins. Everyone knew that this was a win-win match. If by any chance they lost this one then it would mean that the points would come into play in the last match against Slytherin and they really didn't want that to happen.

Ten minutes before the start Wood stopped pacing and faced up the rest of the team to give his pre-game speech. Wood took a deep breath and then smiled. "We have the Firebolt guys we are going to kill them!" Harry was surprised but the rest of the team cheered loudly as they all got up ready to walk down the tunnel. It seemed that the Firebolt had become the symbol of luck and the rest of the team seemed to draw inspiration from it.

A minute later Harry was standing facing the Ravenclaw seeker, Cho Chang. According to Wood, skill-wise she was better than Malfoy and Diggory but not as good as Harry. Wood still insisted and now everyone except Harry had started believing it too that Harry was International-material and should drop out of school to play in the upcoming Quidditch World Cup.

Chang was also on a Cleansweep which compared to a Firebolt was really a joke. She smiled at Harry as the teams lined up but a moment later she was staring nervously at the Firebolt in Harry's hand. At that precise moment Lee Jordan announced over the megaphone that Harry was to be on a Firebolt and not on a Nimbus 2001. After the announcement Harry could literally hear a pin drop in the stadium and the almost the entire stadium was now watching the broom in his hands and a moment later loud cheers erupted from the Gryffindor stands and Madame Hooch shook herself and started the proceedings.

"Wood, Davies, shake hands," Madam Hooch said briskly, and Wood shook hands with the Ravenclaw Captain who was still staring at the Firebolt in Harry's hand. "Mount your brooms... on my whistle... three -- two -- one --"

Harry kicked off into the air and the Firebolt zoomed higher and faster than any other broom and yet he was not flying at the Firebolt's peak speed; he soared around the stadium and began squinting around for the Snitch and he tuned out the commentary as was his practice.

Harry streaked past Katie in the opposite direction, gazing around for a glint of gold and noticing that Cho Chang was tailing him closely. She was undoubtedly a very good flier -- she kept cutting across him, forcing him to change direction. Harry needed to make sure that she didn't continue to do that. Harry was rounding the Ravenclaw goal when he saw the Snitch close to the ground flitting near one of the Gryffindor goals.

Harry dived and Cho dived after him. He was speeding up, dives were really quite his specialty and he was closing in near the snitch—then a Bludger, hit by one of the Ravenclaw Beaters, came pelting out of nowhere; Harry veered off course, avoiding it by an inch, and in those few, crucial seconds, the Snitch had vanished. But instead of pulling out of the dive Harry continued the dive albeit a lot slowly and at a gentle angle. This obviously confused Cho who thought that Harry could still spot the snitch and she tore off behind him and a few moments later caught-up with him and they both continued hurtling towards the ground rather quickly. As had become his practice a moment before he hit the ground Harry pulled steeply out of the dive and was back in the air. Cho however did not crash into the ground as Alvin and Cedric had, she managed to pull out of the dive but not before the twigs of the broom were dragged along the pitch and were damaged. That meant that her speed was reduced—not considerably, but enough to ensure that she wouldn't be cutting across Harry anymore.

Happy that he could fly around the pitch uninterrupted now, Harry started doing just that.

"Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see it turn -- Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision- balance is really noticeable in these long"

"JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!" Professor McGonagall belted out.

Then Harry saw the snitch. It was glittering way above the field near the Ravenclaw end. Harry accelerated towards it and saw that Cho was doing the same below him. But there was going to be only one winner in that race. Suddenly—

"Oh!" screamed Cho, pointing.

Distracted, Harry looked down.

Three dementors, three tall, black, hooded dementors, were looking up at him.

But Harry wasn't feeling any of the effects that he should have been feeling. Neither the cold nor the screams in his head. Harry was about to draw out his wand when he decided that they were either very poor dementors or was some prank that the Slytherins had come up with. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw some kind of silver bird being shot towards the dementors. He concentrated dead ahead and then zeroed in towards the snitch and a moment later he closed his fingers over the struggling snitch.

Madam Hooch's whistle sounded. Harry turned around in midair and saw six scarlet blurs bearing down on him; next moment, the whole team was hugging him so hard he was nearly pulled off his broom. Down below he could hear the roars of the Gryffindors in the crowd.

"That's my boy!" Wood kept yelling. Alicia, Angelina, and Katie had all kissed Harry; Fred had him in a grip so tight Harry felt as though his head would come off In complete disarray, the team managed to make its way back to the ground. Harry got off his broom and looked up to see a gaggle of Gryffindor supporters sprinting onto the field, Ron in the lead. Before he knew it, he had been engulfed by the cheering crowd.

Harry could also feel Ginny's feelings of enormous joy which was certainly not only due to the victory. _"What's up Ginny?"_

"_Harry! I finally got it." _Came Ginny's excited reply.

"_Got what?"_

"_I got a well-defined shape to my Patronus. It was a phoenix. I am sure." _Ginny replied.

"_Brilliant Ginn………" _Harry pulled up in the reply as he began thinking over something that he had read in the theory about Patroni. The shape of the Patroni was defined by something which had a stellar effect on one's life. Harry could understand if his shape had been a phoenix. He was after-all alive only due to Fawkes. But the jaguar was totally unexpected. The phoenix for Ginny too didn't quite make sense. Unless……

"_Gin, I think I know what our Animagus forms are going to be."_

"_Eh...how?" _Ginny asked who obviously hadn't quite followed Harry's thoughts.

"_I think I might be a jaguar and you might be the phoenix or it could be the other way round too."_

"_I think that you might just be right." _Came Ginny's reply. Harry was about to reply when Fred interrupted him.

"We are having a party! Gryffindor Tower, right now!" Fred exclaimed as Harry was soon enveloped by the tremendously excited and happy Gryffindors. Harry realized that the dementors were sprawled out on the ground. As he went in for a closer look, he realized that they were not dementors at all but the Slytherin team dressed up as dementors.

"Right," said Harry, and feeling happier than he had in ages, he and the rest of the team led the way, still in their scarlet robes, out of the stadium and back up to the castle.

It felt as though they had already won the Quidditch Cup; the party went on all day and well into the night. Ginny was doubly happy as she had finally got a shape on the Patronus. Every few minutes Ginny was sending Harry feelers that they needed to get cracking on the Animagus Potion too. Harry wasn't really sure about it but now that he had some inkling what their forms were going to be he couldn't wait to start either. The twins deputed Harry to get some food from Hogsmeade and Harry gladly consented and returned with armfuls of bottles of butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, and several bags full of Honeydukes sweets.

"How did you do that?" squealed Angelina Johnson as George started throwing Peppermint Toads into the crowd.

"Trade-secret." Was Harry's only reply.

Only one person wasn't joining in the festivities. Hermione, incredibly, was sitting in a corner, attempting to read an enormous book entitled Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles. Harry broke away from the table where Fred and George had started juggling butterbeer bottle and went over to her.

"Did you even come to the match?" he asked her.

"Of course I did," said Hermione in a strangely high-pitched voice, not looking up. "And I'm very glad we won, and I think you did really well, but I need to read this by Monday."

"Come on, Hermione, come and have some food," Harry said, looking over at Ron and wondering whether he was in a good enough mood to bury the hatchet.

"I can't, Harry. I've still got four hundred and twenty-two pages to read!" said Hermione, now sounding slightly hysterical. "Anyway..." She glanced over at Ron too. "He doesn't want me to join in."

There was no arguing with this, as Ron chose that moment to say loudly,

"If Scabbers hadn't just been eaten, he could have had some of those Fudge Flies. He used to really like them --"

Hermione burst into tears. Before Harry could say or do anything, she tucked the enormous book under her arm, and, still sobbing, ran toward the staircase to the girls' dormitories and out of sight.

"Can't you give her a break?" Harry asked Ron quietly.

"No," said Ron flatly. "If she just acted like she was sorry – but she'll never admit she's wrong, Hermione. She's still acting like Scabbers has gone on vacation or something."

"You know the Ron of the breakfast-table wouldn't say so and wouldn't be stuck on such a silly thing." Ginny said as Ron looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Yeah, I guess you are right." Ron replied after a few moments. "I guess that I do owe her an apology over my behaviour."

The Gryffindor party ended only when Professor McGonagall turned up in her tartan dressing gown and hair net at one in the morning, to insist that they all go to bed. Harry and Ron climbed the stairs to their dormitory, still discussing the match. At last, exhausted, Harry climbed into bed and without changing out of his Quidditch robes and the Firebolt still by his side he lay back onto the bed and felt himself go to sleep almost immediately.

Harry was dreaming about two phoenixes flying around when he was suddenly awakened by some random noise in the dormitory. He opened his eyes and realized that it was the noise of the door-closing. He was surprised that the noise woke him up when suddenly the hair on the back of his hair stood-up. Someone was walking very deliberately and slowly into the room. Harry surreptitiously grabbed his glasses and put them on. He could still feel the heavy breathing inside the room. Harry pushed himself up on his bed and tried to peer out of the hangings. There was man inside the room who was currently looking into the hangings over Dean's bed. The man had long hair and also what looked like a beard. Harry froze. It could be only one person. It had to be Sirius Black.

Even as Harry was thinking what he was going to do, Sirius Black reached over Ron's bed and Harry suddenly saw the moonlight glint off what looked very suspiciously as a steel-blade and then heard the slashing of the curtain-drapes. But before Harry could react he heard Ron's scream—"AAARRGGHH! NOOO!"

Harry jumped out of his bed with the wand ready at his side. The man turned around to look at Harry and this time there were no doubts it was indeed Sirius Black. But unbelievably Sirius Black took one long look at Harry and then turned tail and ran out of the room. It took Harry only one moment to decide what he was going to do. A moment later he was dashing down the spiral-staircase. Harry reached the common-room and saw that Black had reached the portrait-hole. This time without a moment's hesitation Harry ran behind him feeling rather glad that he had slept in full robes and with his shoes still on.

Black turned around and cursed as he realized that he was being followed. Harry was wondering whether Black could be going when he realized that Black was making for the marble staircases.

"_GINNNY!" _Harry mentally screamed out.

"_W—what Harry?" _She replied after a moments. _"And why is there suddenly so much noise in the common-room?"_

"_Sirius Black is in the castle and I am going after him. He is a few metres ahead of me." _Harry replied as he dashed down the Marble Staircases. Every few seconds Black was looking behind and clearly cursing as he saw Harry still pursuing him.

"_WHAT! Are you MAD? What if……" _Ginny began but Harry interrupted her.

"_If he wanted to kill me, he could have done so. Why in the world is he running away from me? And I am not going to give up until I learn a few things. If he kidnaps me or something, I can always tell you."_

"_But what if he kills you outright?" _Came Ginny's panicked question.

"_If that's what he really wanted to do……he would have done so till now."_

"_You still think that he is innocent?"_

"_No, I don't know anything. I only want answers. Keep listening in and don't panic." _Harry sent even as he reached the Great Hall. Harry cursed inwardly. Sirius Black was unbelievably using the front-door to get into the castle. So much about the extra-security. Black was now clearly racing towards the Forest. Harry hoped that he could somehow catch-up because once he got into the Forest it would be game over. But Black was still not inside the range of Harry's wand nor was Black slowing down. Suddenly Harry realized that Black wasn't heading towards the Forest but towards the Whomping Willow and Harry panicked. He knew that there was secret passage right under the Willow that led out of the wards and Black was clearly heading towards it. As Black reached closer Harry saw Black grabbing a long stick and trying to press something near the base of the tree. That gave him enough time to catch-up.

"Stop right there, Black or I swear godson or not I will blow your head to smithereens." Harry said firmly. "I don't think the ministry would mind if I kill the person out to murder me."

Harry was ever ready for Black to turn around with a wand or perhaps throw the knife at him. Harry knew that he hardly knew any offensive spells and now wished that knew some. He remembered only reading about 'Reducto' the curse used to blow things up. But he had never performed it before. Even as he was thinking about it, Sirius Black turned around with a look of slight surprise on his face.

"I don't want to kill you, H—Harry." Sirius Black said in a slow rasping voice. A voice which clearly had not been used in a long time.

"Why? Was your blood-lust satisfied with my parents' murder?" Harry asked with pure venom.

Black clearly recoiled on hearing that. "It was not how it l—looked. I won't deny that I am responsible for their deaths……"

"That's enough for me, Black." Harry said even as he heard barking in the distance. Fang seemed to have picked up the unknown scent. Sirius Black had a look of panic on his face too.

"It wasn't how it looked, Harry. P—please give me a chance to explain……" Sirius Black was quite literally pleading now and Harry decided that he wanted answers.

"Explain then……I have loads of time." Harry said firmly.

"T—they will come here, H—Harry. They must have felt me already. I can't do it here. They will kiss me if they find me." Sirius Black said in a panicked voice. Harry knew that he was talking about the dementors.

"Why should I trust you?" Harry asked. "You have already said that……"

"Please Harry, please let me explain." Sirius Black pleaded. Harry decided that that tone could not be faked.

"_What do you think, Ginny?"_

"_He really sounds genuine but I don't like the entire idea anyways. But he really could have killed you if wanted to."_

"Let's go." Harry said. Sirius Black clearly looked relieved as he used the stick to poke a knot at the base of the tree and the tree stopped moving and a tunnel opened up at the base. Sirius Black went into it first and Harry followed him into it a moment later.

Meanwhile it was pandemonium in the common-room. Ron's scream had woken up practically the entire tower. Ron had frozen on spotting Sirius Black and then was surprised beyond belief when Harry actually went after him.

"Black! Sirius Black! With a knife!" Was all that Ron could mutter as he heard someone question him. "And Harry ran after him."

"What?"

"Here! Just now! Slashed the curtains! Woke me up!"

"You sure you weren't dreaming, Ron?" said Dean.

"Look at the curtains! I tell you, he was here!"

They all scrambled out of bed; Ron reached the dormitory door first, and they sprinted back down the staircase. Doors opened behind them, and sleepy voices called after them.

"Who shouted?"

"What're you doing?"

The common room was lit with the glow of the dying fire, still littered with the debris from the party. It was deserted.

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming, Ron?"

"I'm telling you, I saw him!"

"What's all the noise?"

"Professor McGonagall told us to go to bed!"

A few of the girls had come down their staircase, pulling or, dressing gowns and yawning. Boys, too, were reappearing.

"Excellent, are we carrying on?" said Fred Weasley brightly.

"Everyone back upstairs!" said Percy, hurrying into the common room and pinning his Head Boy badge to his pajamas as he spoke. "What are you doing here Ronald? I thought I heard you scream."

Inspite of not wanting to really reply to Percy, Ron knew that he needed to answer the question. "S—Sirius Black broke into o—our dormitory." Ron replied.

The common room went very still.

"And Harry went after him." Ron replied in a low tone but everyone in the Common-Room heard it.

"Now, really, enough's enough!" Professor McGonagall was back. She slammed the portrait behind her as she entered the common room and stared furiously around. "I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous!"

It looked like she wanted to continue but Ron, interrupted her. "Sirius Black broke into out dormitory and Harry woke up and ran down after him."

Professor McGonagall stared at him and then clearly blanched and went very pale. "A—are you sure, Weasley?"

"You can check. My curtains are slashed and Harry isn't here either. I swear Harry practically sprinted after Black." Ron replied firmly.

"Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?" Professor McGonagall was clearly trying not to believe him.

"Ask him." Ron said pointing towards the portrait-hole.

Visibly nervous Professor McGonagall pushed the Portrait back open and went outside. The whole common room listened with bated breath. "Sir Cadgon, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?"

"Certainly, good lady!" cried Sir Cadgon.

There was a stunned silence, both inside and outside the common room.

"Did he leave a few minutes later with Harry Potter in pursuit?" Professor McGonagall asked anxiously.

"Yes, good lady. The valiant Mr. Potter certainly chased after the man." Came the reply.

This time the common-room was frozen into shock. A moment later something silvery was seen outside the portrait-hole.

"W—why did you allow him to enter?" She asked still addressing the portrait.

"He told me the password." Sir Cadgon announced jauntily.

Professor McGonagall came back into the common-room looking sickly pale and flustered.

"We will wait here for a moment. Professor Dumbledore and the others would be here soon." She said to no one on general as she shut the portrait-hole behind her. Five minutes of absolute silence passed in the common-room. Unbelievably nobody uttered a single letter. Everyone was waiting expectantly. About five minutes later foot-steps were heard outside the portrait-hole and a moment later it swung open to reveal Professor Dumbledore, a clearly irritated Snape and Professor Lupin.

They all entered to find Professor McGonagall's wand pointed at them. She let out a breath and lowered it after she saw Professor Dumbledore.

"What is it Minerva? You said that it was an absolute emergency." Professor Dumbledore asked as calmly as ever.

"Black broke into the common-room this time." Professor McGonagall answered and immediately the expressions on the three faces changed dramatically. "He managed to get into the third-year dormitory and woke up Mr. Weasley by mistake. Harry woke up too and according to Mr. Weasley and Sir Cadgon went after Black."

This time the rest of the Professors including Snape blanched. Almost five seconds passed before Professor Dumbledore spoke up again.

"How much time has passed?" He asked in a surprisingly even voice.

"Ten—Fifteen minutes." Ron replied.

"They could be anywhere." Professor Dumbledore muttered. "Search the grounds. There is very little chance that they are still inside the castle. Minerva, please wake up the rest of the Professors too and have them join the search-party. Severus and Remus please wake-up Hagrid and search every corner of the grounds. You will find me there in a few minutes as well."

"Let the brat get his comeuppance for his bighead-ness and arrogance. Why should……" Snape had started to sneer but stopped after receiving a glare from the remaining three Professors.

"Please do not leave the common-room under any circumstance. Percival you are in-charge." Professor Dumbledore said and a moment later all the Professors were out of the common-room and the portrait-hole was shut behind them.

Almost immediately a gaggle of voices broke out but the twins, Ron and Hermione were heading straight up the boy's tower. A minute later the twins had sealed their dorm and were perched around the Marauder's Map looking minutely for any sign of either Harry or Sirius Black. But the grounds did not show any signs of the two.

"Well we always knew that he would go after Sirius Black if an opportunity presented itself." Hermione said after abou five minutes of a futile search. The Weasleys only harrumphed at that.

"Where is Ginny?" Hermione asked after a moment.

"She tends to sleep like a log." Came Ron's terse reply.

Meanwhile Harry had reached the end of the tunnel and had reached an old decrepit house. He looked around and noticed that the windows were all boarded-up and all the furniture around the house lay broken and in pieces.

"Where are we?" He asked after a moment.

"The Shrieking Shack." Sirius Black replied.

"Isn't it supposed to be the most haunted place in Great Britain or something?" He asked.

"No. But we cannot stay here for long." Sirius Black responded. "Once they notice you missing, they are bound to search here."

"We have to go somewhere else if I am to explain you everything." Sirius Black said and Harry was liking it less by the minute.

"_I don't like it either." _Ginny added.

"_I think that if he really meant any malice, he could have done more than enough damage already."_

"Why should I trust you anymore Black?" Harry asked plainly.

Sirius Black thought over it for a moment. "I will show you my biggest secret. But I need an oath that you won't tell anyone about it."

"You know that I can't do that." Harry replied.

"My cover will be blown if it gets out. If…."

"I might want to blow that cover myself. You haven't given me any explanation. The only reason I am here is because you didn't receive a trial and somethings don't quite add up." Harry interrupted him. "But if you give me a valid explanation then I promise you that I won't reveal it."

"You might not be a willing participant." Sirius Black said despondently.

"If you are talking about legilimency I think I am some kind of a natural Occlumens. I doubt that even Professor Dumbledore can read my emotions anymore, let alone proper thoughts." Harry replied evenly. Sirius Black was now staring at Harry with eyes as wide as saucers. "Don't be so surprised. If you hear the rest of my story since starting Hogwarts you might never be able to close your eyes again."

For the first time, Harry spotted a ghost of a smile on Sirius Black's face.

"All-right. Here goes nothing." Sirius Black said and a moment later there was a large shaggy dog in place of the man that Harry was looking at. Harry stared in shock at the dog for a few moments and then Harry realized how Sirius Black had been evading all the security and watching him fly of all the things. Sirius Black was an Animagus. He was the big black dog that Harry had been seeing everywhere.

"_I think that you can trust him a bit, Harry." _Came Ginny's reply.

"All-right let's go." Harry said and the dog morphed back into the man. "How are we going?" Harry asked as Sirius Black drew out a wand from the depths of his tattered robes.

"I will side-apparate you." He replied. "If you don't mind."

"Let's go." Harry replied. Sirius Black cautiously approached Harry and then grabbed his arm and apparated away. Harry felt as if he was being squeezed through a tube and then suddenly the feeling went away and Harry felt cool air around him again. He stumbled but managed to stay on his feet. Harry looked around and realized that he was in a residential area in a big city, probably even London. The grimy fronts of the surrounding houses were not welcoming; some of them had broken windows, glimmering dully in the light fro the streetlamps, paint was peeling from many of the doors and heaps of rubbish lay outside several sets of front steps.

"Where are we?" Harry asked Sirius who was now walking towards what looked like an alley to Harry.

"Number 12, Grimmauld Place. My ancestral house in London. It should be empty." Sirius Black replied. "Now hold my hand and start walking behind me. You might feel the urge to turn around and go away but don't do that. Okay?" Harry nodded, so Sirius Black caught hold of Harry's hand and then started walking towards the alley.

As he neared the start of the alley, Harry could indeed feel a deep compulsion to turn away and go away but he did his best to ignore it and let Sirius Black guide him towards the alley. Then suddenly that feeling went away and an enormous black grimy door materialized in front of him and within moments a three storied house was now visible behind the door. The look of immense surprise must have shown on Harry's face because Sirius Black began explaining.

"My family was very paranoid and set-up some extensive security arrangements. I was kicked out when I was 16 but I hope that the house still recognizes the blood-line." He said and then tapped the snake-head knocker with his wand. Harry heard many loud, metallic clicks and what sounded like the clatter of a chain. The door creaked open.

"Get in quick, Harry," Sirius whispered, "But don't go far inside and don't touch anything. You never know what is cursed."

Harry entered the house and a moment later he heard Sirius Black enter the house too and the door was shut behind him. Harry looked around and realized that there was an inch-thick layer of dust everywhere. It was a dark and grimy house. It looked like a house that would belong to one of Voldemort's cronies.

"_The Blacks are traditionally known to be supporters of the Dark Arts." _Came Ginny's reply.

"_Thanks Gin. That really boosted my confidence." _Quipped Harry. Meanwhile Sirius was leading Harry into what looked like a kitchen in the basement. There was dust here too and Sirius waved his wand around and some of the dust disappeared.

"Take a seat, Harry. It is all dirty and grimy but I think that this is the only place where we wouldn't be found out immediately." He replied.

Harry was about to reply when he felt that there was someone else in the room too. He turned around and looked near the door and realized that it was a house-elf, like Dobby. Only this one was very old and looked almost twisted. Before Harry could say anything the house-elf spoke up.

"So, the blood-traitor returns. He is breaking my mistress' heart and now he returns to the Most Noble House of Blacks." He said in a scornful and a voice filled with hatred. The house-elf then turned his gaze towards Harry. "And you is bringing a half-blood with you. Only if………" The house-elf looked like he wanted to say something but then stared deeply at Harry and Harry saw that he was blinking madly and then stared at Harry with eyes as wide as saucers.

"What is going on here?" Sirius Black asked as he looked from Harry to the house-elf.

"_The bond Harry. The BOND." _Came Ginny's panicked voice. _"He recognized the bond."_

"Kreacher what is going on here?" Sirius Black asked the house-elf. Harry was about to ask the house-elf Kreacher to not reveal anything to Harry when Kreacher addressed Harry.

"You is having the mark of the purest blood-wizard. Your's blood is as pure as there can be." Kreacher announced and Harry's mouth fell open. As far as he remembered his mother was a muggleborn. "Kreacher is welcoming you to the house of Blacks. Is there anything that Kreacher can do to help you, young Master?"

"_Ginny? What exactly is going on?" _Harry asked even as he continued to stare at Kreacher.

"_I think that the bond made him think that you are pure-blood or something. Maybe the bond makes you legally pureblood or something. I don't know. Just don't let Black know about it." _Ginny replied 'mentally'.

Harry looked up to see that Sirius Black had drawn out his wand and was pointing it at Harry. "Who are you? I know it for a fact that Lily was a muggleborn."

Harry looked at Sirius Black and then at Kreacher wondering how exactly he was going to explain anything. "I can assure you that I am Harry Potter. But I can't tell you why this Kreacher considers me to be pure-blood. I might have an idea but I cannot tell you why."

Sirius Black didn't look convinced at all and didn't lower his wand and instead addressed Kreacher. "Why is he a pure-blood? Answer me I am giving you an order."

Kreacher didn't reply and instead gave a hollow-sort of laugh. "Master's order won't work on Kreacher. Kreacher is bound by his magic not to reveal about young Master's secret."

Sirius Black was now looking flabbergasted and looked at Harry with wide-eyes.

"I told you, Sirius. If you learn even half the things that I have done at Hogwarts in two and a half years, your eyes will go so wide that you will never be able to close them again. And frankly coming along with a convicted criminal is believe it or not the least crazy thing that I have done." Harry replied with a smile and then addressed Kreacher.

Sirius Black looked like he was in shock now and took a moment before replying. "All-right Kreacher. Go away now and don't disturb us unless I call you here. Also if anybody comes looking for us, turn them away. That's an order. Is that clear?" Kreacher nodded and then looked at Harry.

"Please don't let anyone in, Kreacher. It is really is imperative that you do that." Harry said. This time Kreacher bowed low and disappeared with a pop. "I believe it's time for some explanations Sirius."

Sirius Black nodded but didn't reply immediately. It looked like he was deciding what he was going to say. "I am practically responsible for the deaths of Lily and James, Harry. I cannot deny that." He said after a moment.

"But?" Harry asked.

"What do you know about that night Harry?" Sirius Black asked.

"We were under the Fidelus Charm and you were the secret-keeper. A week after the charm was performed, Voldemort turned up at my parents' doorstep." Harry replied. Sirius Black looked up at Harry when he heard him say the word 'Voldemort'; he looked surprised that Harry had said it. "Don't look so surprised, Sirius. With bucket-loads of luck and my mum's protection, I have defeated the arse twice after starting Hogwarts. So speaking the name is not a big deal."

This time Sirius Black looked stunned. "B—But isn't he dead?"

"No. He is simply without a body. Anyways we were talking about that night." Harry tried to get the conversation back on track.

"I wasn't the Secret-keeper, Harry." Sirius Black said and this time it was Harry's turn to be stunned.

"_That is very interesting." _Came Ginny's voice over their link.

"That is rather hard to believe. Everyone from Professor Dumbledore to Professor Lupin has told me that you were the secret-keeper." Harry countered.

"That is where the 'I am responsible for their death' part comes in." Sirius Black said. Harry didn't say anything and Sirius Black took a deep breath before continuing. "I don't know how much you know about my history with James but the fact was that we were closer than simply best friends. We more like brothers. I ran away from this very house after my fifth year and turned up at your grandparents' house; they took me in without a second thought and treated me like a second son. Your Grandmother was more of a mother to me than Walburga Black ever was."

Sirius Black paused at this point and it looked as if he was thinking over something or perhaps remembering something that clearly was very painful. If he was faking it, Sirius Black was clearly a brilliant actor. Sirius Black took another deep breath before continuing.

"Point is, that it was a well-known fact among the death-eaters and well among all the students who ever attended Hogwarts at the same time as we did that James Potter and Sirius Black were inseparable and James would never think twice about trusting me with his, Lily's and your life. Then we knew that there was a spy among us who was supplying information to Voldemort." Sirius Black said and Harry could almost see some tears in his eyes. "So I panicked at the last moment before the Fidelus charm was performed. I suggested to James that we change the secret-keeper clandestinely and he agreed. It was the perfect plan everyone would be searching for me while I wouldn't be the secret-keeper at all."

That sentence hit Harry with the force of a road-train. Sirius Black was not the secret-keeper. This meant that someone else was. It wasn't Professor Dumbledore not was it Professor Lupin. That left….

"_Peter Pettigrew." _Ginny supplied.

"Peter Pettigrew?" Harry asked Sirius Black and his eyes widened again.

"H—how d—did you guess?" Sirius Black asked with his mouth big enough to swallow a hippogriff.

"Secrets have a tendency of being unraveled in my presence." Harry replied dryly even as the wheels were turning furiously in his head. "So you confronted Peter Pettigrew and killed him in revenge. It wasn't that Peter Pettigrew tracked you down, you tracked him down."

Sirius Black shook his head sadly. "That is only partially correct. I meant to kill Peter all-right but the slimy bastard got better of me that day. A few seconds after I confronted him the ministry wizards started arriving. Peter screamed out to the entire street that I betrayed James and Lily and then blew the street-up killing all those muggles and in that confusion cut his finger and ran away. Everyone presumed that his body was destroyed beyond recognition and he was pronounced dead, I suppose."

"_What do you think, Gin?"_

Ginny took a couple of moments before replying. _"It is an incredulous story but then stranger things have happened. But no proof except Black's word but he does sound genuine. That still does not explain why he took so much time to break out of prison. I suppose he could have done so anytime he wanted with that Animagus form of his."_

"I would like to believe you, Sirius. I hate the very idea that my father's best friend would betray him." Harry paused before continuing. "But I need proof. Right now it is only your word against that of many others. Also your explanation throws up fifteen other questions. Why didn't you ever mention this to anyone before? Why did you break out of Azkaban after twelve years? Too many loose ends, Sirius."

Sirius did not reply but put his hands inside his robes and drew out a piece of what looked like a newspaper. "I want to but cannot explain you everything. But when you go back tell Remus Lupin that he has permission from me to reveal everything about Marauders." Sirius Black said solemnly and handed him the piece of paper.

It was the picture of the Weasleys pictured against the fake backdrop of the Pyramids. Harry took it in surprise and looked at it. It was from the Daily Prophet.

"_Ginny any idea what this is all about?" _Harry asked.

"_Nope. But this is interesting, describe the picture." _Ginny said.

"_Well the backdrop of the Pyramids is fake." _Harry began. _"Then all nine of you Weasleys are in the picture. Also Errol is on your dad's shoulders and Hermes is on Percy's. Scabbers in Ron's hands. I can't spot anything out of the normal." _Harry said in resignation as he went through the picture once more. Then suddenly inspiration struck.

"_Ginny! Animagi! What if Scabbers was an Animagi? Sirius surely is. What if the rest of the Marauders were Animagi too? Maybe my dad was an Animagus too." _Harry asked excitedly.

"_I don't know Harry. There have been 7-registered Animagi in the last century." _She paused before continuing. _"But then Sirius Black wasn't on that list and there is no way in hell that he managed to achieve that skill in Azkaban. Besides Scabbers is dead, remember?"_

"BLOODY HELL!" Harry blurted out. "Don't tell me that Peter Pettigrew was a rat…."

"I can tell you now that he certainly was." Sirius Black said excitedly. "We had all taken an oath not to reveal it to anyone without the permission of a minimum of two Marauders or unless someone guessed it or saw us in the Animagus-form. I saw the photo and realized that I had seen that rat so many times and to top it off there was a toe missing from his fore-legs…." Sirius began but Harry interrupted him.

"Scabbers the rat in the photo is dead, Sirius. Crookshanks ate him." Harry said solemnly.

Sirius Black's eyes went wide and then Harry could literally see the brightness that was seemingly being built up in his eyes simply disappear and the eyes started looking hollow and dead again.

"Was this Crookshanks an orange coloured part-kneazle with a flat-face?" Sirius Black suddenly asked and this time it was Harry's turn to have an open mouth and he simply nodded. "Then she certainly did not eat him. She has been trying to catch the rat for me since the year started. She recognized me at the start of the year and has been helping me ever since. I don't know how but she somehow understands me. Infact she is the one who stole the passwords of the Gryffindor tower from a boy's bedside and she is the one who took the Firebolt's mail-order to the Owlery."

Harry shook his head. "Scabbers is dead, Sirius. There were orange hair all-around Ron's bed and blood on his sheets and Scabbers had…….." It suddenly started making sense to Harry. Scabbers or rather Peter must have overheard them talking after the Christmas break and realized that his cover might actually be blown over.

"You think that he faked his death again……" Harry asked Sirius.

"_Has to be Harry. This time the evidence is circumstantial but it is compelling now. Sirius meant that Peter was at Hogwarts when he said 'He is at Hogwarts' in Azkaban. It is all making sense now." _Ginny said over the link.

Sirius nodded slowly. "You need less than a second to change back into the human form and all of the animals can recognize that the animal is not actually an animal but an Animagus. We have seen snakes turn away from Peter on numerous occasions. The only reason that this Crookshanks was attacking Peter was because I had asked her to catch him for me."

"Believe me Harry. I would never betray James. He and his family was the only family that I had. If I had I would have gone mad due to the guilt in Azkaban but trust me I am as sane as you are." Sirius Black pleaded.

"_Well, I will hardly call Harry Potter the slayer of a Basilisk sane." _Ginny quipped.

Harry ignored Ginny's comment and a few moments later Harry nodded. "I think that I do believe you." Harry said firmly and he could see look of genuine relief pass on Sirius Black's face and then surprisingly he got up and hugged Harry. It was a warm hug, it was the first fatherly hug that Harry could remember and he couldn't help welling-up a bit. He knew one thing for sure Sirius Black could not have betrayed his parents no matter what. They sat down and no one spoke for a few minutes.

"What do you think Peter did now? I mean where is he going to run from Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"I doubt that he is gone anywhere, Harry." Sirius replied after a moment. "I know Peter very well. He is a rat to the core and he really is a poor excuse for a wizard and he certainly is neither courageous nor bold. He is too cowardly to try anything, especially something like leaving the apparent security of Hogwarts."

"What are we going to do about Peter? Are you sure that he wouldn't have fled the scene?" Harry asked.

Sirius nodded. "Pretty much, Harry. But it will be really difficult to search for a singular rat in an enormous castle and even bigger grounds."

"_Unless we use the Map." _Ginny said making Harry smile.

"No not really." Harry said casually making Sirius stare at him in wonder. "You didn't think that the 'talking-parchment' would remain with Filch forever did you?" Harry asked coyly and this time Harry was sure that he had broken Sirius who didn't reply at all for at least an entire minute.

"Y—you have the Marauder's map?" Sirius finally asked in wonderment.

"That we do." Harry replied jovially as Snape got pushed to the back of his mind. "But I have to tell you that your map is rather incomplete and missing huge portions of the castle."

"That is impossible." Sirius replied.

"Trust me. Your map is some distance away from being the definitive map of Hogwarts. For starters you haven't shown the Chamber of Secrets……"

"WHAT? The chamber of secrets is real and you found it?" Sirius asked completely stunned.

"Yeah I did." Harry replied. "The point is there are more than enough secret tunnels and passages and rooms that you have not covered in the Map. Scabbers could have been with Ron, many times when we found out something. So it is quite possible that we may not find him using the Marauder's Map."

Sirius nodded. "We keep on searching. Unless something really big happens. I don't think that Peter would run away. I will remain in and around Hogwarts. If something turns up do send me a message through Crookshanks."

"Wait, why do you need to be near Hogwarts again? The kiss has been ordered against you. It is not safe for you to be there. You can stay here. You said yourself that you would be safe here." Harry pleaded.

"Safe for the time-being, Harry. Not forever. Besides I think that I have had enough of staying in a dreary, musty place to last me a lifetime. I prefer the outdoors much better. Okay?" Sirius Black said. Harry nodded after a moment.

"So tell me something about yourself, Harry. The only thing that I know is that you play Quidditch and are in Gryffindor." Sirius Black said.

"Well, I am in the Quidditch team since first year." Harry said and looking at the surprised look on Sirius' face he continued. "Yeah, I know. The youngest player in a hundred years or something."

"That is beyond impressive. Though I can imagine it considering that you really do seem to be flying like the wind." Sirius said with a smile on his face. "James would have been very proud of you. He was an excellent flier himself."

"I know, Professor McGonagall told me." Harry replied.

"We need to return back." Harry said after a few moments. "But I really don't think that you can apparate me there directly. Can you apparate me to the Park near Privet Drive? I think I will take the Knight Bus from there to either Hogwarts or the Leaky Cauldron."

Sirius nodded and he got up and Harry followed him. He barely noticed the deep bow that Kreacher gave him and simply waved to him. But even that gesture seemed to gratify Kreacher. They stepped outside the door and Sirius then drew out his wand and they suddenly Harry felt like he was being squeezed through a tube and then a moment later he felt the cold air again and he found himself standing in the Park near Privet Drive.

"You will remain safe won't you while getting back?" Harry asked Sirius.

"I promise, Harry I will." Sirius replied solemnly. "And I want to thank you for listening to me and giving me a chance for explaining. There aren't many people who would do that."

"Just remain safe and out of the Ministry's clutches." Harry said. Sirius nodded and was about to turn away when Harry realized something. "Why did Peter hide away and not seek out some death-eaters?" Harry asked in confusion. "Didn't he tell Voldemort about our location? Shouldn't he be some kind of special death-eater or something? A lot of death-eaters never made it to Azkaban; wouldn't they welcome him or something?"

Sirius Black only laughed dryly. "That is exactly the reason why he will not go back to any death-eaters." Sirius continued on observing the confused look on Harry's face. "Imagine it Harry. Voldemort went to the Potters on Peter's information and met his demise there. Most death-eaters consider him to be some kind of a traitor. I have heard the death-eaters in Azkaban talk about Peter in their sleep. Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband are especially vocal about it. Him and Snape. Peter told him the location of the Potters and Voldemort had apparently set sights on you based on Snape's information. Trust me; the two are not high on the popularity lists of the Death-Eaters."

It took two seconds for the name 'Snape' to register in Harry's mind.

"WHAT?" Harry screamed out. "SNAPE? SNAPE? SEVERUS SNAPE? VOLDEMORT DECIDED TO ATTACK MY PARENTS BASED ON SNAPE'S INFORMATION?"

Sirius was taken aback by the ferocity that was emanating from Harry's words. He simply couldn't fathom how Snape's name had set off Harry so much.

"What is wrong Harry?" He said after a minute. "How the hell do you know Severus Snape? He was a known death-eater.

"_Calm down Harry." _Ginny said even though it was clear that she was anything but calm herself.

"Severus Snape is the Potions Professor in Hogwarts and has been for over a decade now." Harry replied in a clearly agitated tone. "Professor Dumbledore himself vouched for Snape. It seems that Snape was a spy for Professor Dumbledore." Harry finished with a scorn.

"WHAT!" This time it was Sirius Blacks turn to scream out. "Severus Snape the one who…"

"…..graduated with you." Harry finished the statement. Sirius simply sat there with an open mouth. "I need to get back to Hogwarts. Bloody hell, everytime I get five answers ten bloody new questions pop out." Harry said crossly. Harry couldn't believe it. Voldemort went after his family because of Snape. The same greasy git who insisted on insulting him and his father at every turn. An anger like he had never felt before was coursing through his veins. Harry could hear a wind suddenly pick up in the area.

"_Harry you need to calm down." _Came Ginny's voice. _"This is not only about Snape. Remember the Godfather that you know is innocent and you need to prove innocent to the rest. Calm it. You cannot let your emotions override your judgment, Harry please."_

That did the job. A few seconds later Harry had his temper under his control. Harry looked up to notice Sirius Black staring at him in wonder. "What?" Harry asked irritably.

"You seem to be one hell of a powerful wizard, Harry." Sirius said.

Harry ignored the comment. "I—I need to take care of more than a few things."

"Harry, don't do something rash, especially against Snape. He is a true Slytherin to the core. And if Dumbledore trusts….."

"I will be careful, Sirius. You are the one who really needs to be careful." Harry said clearly irritably. He needed to confirm Snape's role and Merlin if it was true…...

Sirius nodded and gave Harry the first true smile of the entire night as he took in Harry's features. "I don't know if anyone has told you this but you are a splitting image of your father only you have Lily's eyes." Sirius said and a moment later there was a dog in the place of the man and after a small bark the dog ran away into the shadows.

Harry took a moment to compose himself. He took a look at the watch and realized that surprisingly only four hours had passed since he ran after Sirius. _"What's going on in the common-room, Gin?"_

"_I don't know. I have been pretending to be asleep." _She replied. _"Do you want me to go and check it out?"_

"_Yeah, after I return I would really like to know where the son of a bitch is." _Harry replied. Ginny knew exactly whom he was talking about.

"_Harry, I hate Snape right now as much as you do. But……"_

"_I can read your thoughts too, Gin. I can tell what exactly you want to do to him." _Harry said as he summouned the Knight Bus, this time he did stand on the footpath. Harry barely had the fare to get to Hogwarts but Stan gave him a discount of ten sickles so it worked out pretty fine. Stan said that it would take about fifty minutes to reach Hogwarts and sure enough exactly fifty minutes later Harry found the Knight Bus trundling through the High Street of Hogsmeade. Harry got off near the entrance of the tunnel behind the mirror. He waited until the Knight Bus took off and then started making his way towards the entrance of the tunnel. It was nearing seven now and Harry could see a lot of people milling about near the main-entrance of Hogwarts and guessed that the Ministry must have been involved.

"_Gin, am I on the Map as yet?" _Harry asked.

"_Nope, though I think it wouldn't be long now." _Ginny replied.

"_Where is he, right now?" _

"_Professor Dumbledore's office. But he has a lot of company. Almost all the Professors are in there. Fred said that even the minister had visited sometime ago. The grounds are teeming with Aurors and Ministry Hit-Wizards apparently." _Ginny observed.

"_What about the castle?" _Harry asked.

"_You are on the Map and……"_Ginny replied and Harry concentrated on her and could hear a few exclamations of cheers and hurrahs.

"_Make sure that they stay in the tower, Gin." _Harry pleaded. _"And what about the castle?"_

"_There is no-one about the castle. They did apparently search it a few hours ago." _Ginny replied. _"Harry? What are you going to do?"_

Harry did not reply immediately. _"I don't know." _Harry replied sincerely as he reached the rock-fall. He pressed the appropriate stone and five minutes later he was streaking down the passage towards Professor Dumbledore's office. Five minutes later he found himself in front of the Stone Gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's office.

"_Who's in it, Gin?" _Harry asked.

"_Professor McGonagall, Professor Lupin and Snape."_

Harry began trying different combinations of names of Chocolates on front of the Gargoyle. "Chocolate Frogs, Peppermint Toads, Fudge Flies, Lemon Drops, Mars Bars, Blood Lollies…" and the Gargoyle spilt open revealing the revolving staircases. Harry practically sprinted up the staircases and knocked on the door and then without waiting for a reply entered the Headmaster's office.

It looked like the Professors were involved in a discussion of sorts and it was apparent that only Professor Dumbledore was expecting someone to enter the office as the moment Harry literally threw the door open a hush fell onto the office. Harry looked around and saw that Snape was standing as usual in the shadows near the window. Harry was about to start towards Snape when Professor Dumbledore's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Harry, it is good to have you back." Professor Dumbledore said with relief quite evident in his voice. Professor Dumbledore continued speaking but Harry tuned him out. Blood was pounding in his ears as he looked at Snape who was staring at him too. Harry's decision was made. He started walking towards the cabinet which contained Godric Gryffindor's sword.

But before he even reached the glass cabinet it shattered into a million pieces and a moment later Harry somehow found himself holding the sword in his right hand. He had somehow wandlessly and non-verbally summouned it into his hand. Harry was barely aware of the other Professors drawing wands around him but before they could fire a spell, Harry had aimed the sword once again at the throat of a man, only instead of Lucius Malfoy this time it was Severus Snape who again didn't have the time to draw out his own wand. Snape had a look of absolute shock and confusion and alarm and a fuming look on his face. The rest of the Professors had more or less the same kind of looks on their faces. It was beyond shock.

"HARRY WHAT IS GOING ON?" It was Professor Dumbledore who had bellowed out in a stunning tenor and Harry had never seen him so angry and for a moment Harry could imagine why Voldemort feared him the most. But Harry was not about to waver.

"I will ask you this only one time Professor and I want a straight answer otherwise I swear that you will have to search for a new Potions' Professor." Harry said in a cold, frosty and acrimonious voice. "ON WHOSE, I repeat ON WHOSE information did VOLDEMORT decide to go after my family?"

This time the effect was quite beyond stunning. Harry saw Snape pale into literally nothingness. Harry could have sworn that Snape was of the same shade as that of Peeves. Professor Dumbledore lowered his wand and had a defeated look on his face and the twinkle suddenly seemed to disappear from his eyes. Professor McGonagall and Professor Lupin had a look of confusion on their faces that was slowly altering into a look of understanding. Ten seconds of silence later everyone knew exactly why the sword was pointed dead at Snape's Adam's apple. Harry took one look at Snape and another at Professor Dumbledore and he knew that the death-eaters in Azkaban were right and so was Sirius. It was Snape on whose information Voldemort had decided to attack his family. Just like Peter Pettigrew, Snape was responsible for their deaths.

"Any last words Snape? Harry asked coldly and firmly.

"HARRY DON'T! Don't do something stupid." Professor Dumbledore cried out.

"WHAT would you do Professor to a man who you know hated your father and later learn is responsible for Voldemort go after your father and mother? On top of it the man never let's go of a single chance to insult your dead father. What would you do, Sir?" Harry asked firmly. The sword still firmly pressed at Snape's Adam's apple.

"I—I trust Severus, Harry." Professor Dumbledore replied. Harry had never heard Professor Snape stutter or falter. "I won't deny it. Severus was the one who relayed certain information to Voldemort that made him go after your family. But it isn't that simple. Severus didn't actually inform Voldemort to go after you. Severus never knew that the information pertained to your family. It could have pertained to more than a dozen families. The moment he realized that Voldemort had decided to go after the Potters, he came to me and informed me about it. It was Severus' information that kept you and your family alive for more than a year. For the next fifteen months until Voldemort's downfall, Severus provided us invaluable information at great personal risk that kept alive more than a handful of people. Please Harry lower that sword." Professor Dumbledore was now pleading.

"Am I supposed to thank Snape for extending my parents' life by 15-months?" Harry asked disdainfully. "Fair enough. But oops! Voldemort went after my parents only because of this son of a bitch. A—and you let this bastard teach here and mock my father left right and centre and for what? He's not even a good spy leave alone a competent Potions' Professor. What in the world is wrong with you?" Harry screamed out and the energy seemed to leave him as the sword dropped out of his hand and it fell to the ground with a loud clang

"_Harry!" _Came Ginny's cry. _"Please talk to me, Harry. Please Harry!"_

"_I am here Gin." _Harry replied from his prone position. None of the Professors in the room had spoken a word or made a sound. With a great effort he pushed himself up and started moving towards the door.

"This bastard better be in Azkaban. I think he had committed more than enough crimes." Harry said as he moved towards the door. He reached the door and turned the knob only to find it locked. He tried it again with the same result. Harry spun around. "Let me go, Professor. I have had a long night and I really would like to spend Sunday in my warm bed." Harry said quite harshly.

"Please sit down Harry, we need to talk." Professor Dumbledore said calmly.

"I am not talking to you until Snape is in Azkaban." Harry replied.

"Your parents, especially your mother wouldn't have wanted….." Professor Dumbledore began but Harry interrupted him.

"Well thanks to Snape my parents died when I was 15months old. The only memory that I have of my mother is her screaming as Voldemort advanced on to kill me. So kindly pardon me if I don't know what my mother or father would want." Harry replied.

"Harry what exactly happened tonight? Please, we need to know." Professor Dumbledore said. "Where did you get all this information from? The only thing we know is that you chased after Sirius Black and then disappeared out of the wards and turned up with information that only four or five people in the world should have."

"Would Bellatrix Lestrange be one of the five?" Harry asked. Professor Dumbledore turned to look towards Snape who was standing in the shadows again. Harry saw, Snape nod after a moment.

"How do you know all this and where have you spent the last few hours?" Professor Dumbledore asked not able to keep the surprise out of his voice this time.

"I went along with Sirius Black to Number 4, Privet Drive. We had a long talk and a lot of things came up in the discussion. It seems that the Death Eaters in Azkaban consider Snape to be responsible for Voldemort's downfall." Harry said as he withdrew the piece of paper from his robes and walked over and handed it to Professor Lupin. "Do concentrate on the Rat, Professor. It has a thumb missing and has been alive for the last twelve years. I believe that common Garden rats don't live that long and yes before I forget, Sirius had given you permission to talk about Peter only."

Professor Lupin stared at the photo for almost an entire minute and then stared at Harry for an entire minute. "They switched?" He asked and Harry simply nodded.

"What is going on here, Potter?" Professor McGonagall finally seemed to have recovered from the shock.

Harry took a deep breath before continuing. "Sirius Black never was the Secret-keeper. Peter Pettigrew was and told Voldemort where to find us. And the Death-Eaters around Sirius' cell knew about it but your spy, Sir didn't know it or either knew it but decided to play out an old school-grudge as he's shown he is more than capable of enacting." Harry said. "Peter Pettigrew it turns out was an Animagus with the form of a rat. He did not confront Sirius on the morning of the 1st November; it was the other-way round. Only for the first time Peter Pettigrew managed to get better of Sirius. He cut off his finger and then blew the gas-pipe which caused the explosion and then transformed and then probably ran into the sewers. He picked up the Weasleys to keep in touch with the wizarding world I suppose. Sirius saw the photo in Azkaban and realized who the rat was and broke out to kill the 'rat'—Peter Pettigrew. Not Harry Potter. Sirius Black, Professor was always innocent. His only crime was suggesting switching the secret-keepers while maintaining the façade that he was the secret-keeper. But the problem isn't solved yet. Scabbers who was Ron's pet was being attacked by Crookshanks a part-kneazle through the year. We thought that it was to eat Scabbers. But apparently Sirius had somehow managed to convince Crookshanks of catching Peter for him. I believe that Peter as a rat overheard the discussion that the six of us had after the Christmas break and then faked his death and now has escaped. So I have or Sirius has absolutely no hard proof and unfortunately Veritaserum-induced statements aren't allowed in courts. So now we need to search for a thinning, balding, grey rat instead of Sirius Black." Harry finished and there was complete silence in the room.

"_Why do you want to keep Sirius' form a secret?" _Ginny asked.

"_I don't trust Snape." _Harry replied instantaneously.

"Remus?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Peter was an Animagus and he was a rat and the rat in this picture looks very similar to the rat that Peter used to turn into." Professor Lupin replied.

"How did you keep it a secret from me?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Some kind of oath that James and Sirius found in the Restricted Section. I could not even reveal anything about Peter's Animagus form unless I received permission from another Marauder.

"What about Potter and Black? Were they animagi too?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I can neither confirm it nor deny it." Professor Lupin replied solemnly. "Sirius gave me permission only for Peter's revelation."

Nobody in the room spoke for over five minutes. Harry decided that it was time for some real answers.

"Are you going to ensure that Sirius at least gets a trial this time?" Harry asked.

"I will do my very best." Professor Dumbledore replied. "I believe you and I believe Sirius. He could not have breached the wards at Privet Drive if he meant you any harm. But without hard-proof our hands are tied."

"What about Snape?" Harry asked.

"Professor Snape, Harry." Professor Dumbledore corrected Harry and Harry's temper went through the roof again.

"He is responsible for the death of my parents. Addressing him as Professor is the least of my worries, Sir." Harry said slowly enunciating every word very firmly.

"Harry I told you…." Began Professor Dumbledore but he was interrupted by one of the most unlikely source. Severus Snape.

"I DID RELAY THE information that made the Dark Lord come after you, Potter. But I never intended your parents to die. I had no idea that the information even pertained to your family." Snape was talking in a tone that had never been heard before from his mouth. "You can give me Veritaserum if you like but I can assure you that, the moment I realized that your family was going to be the one to be targeted I came over to the Headmaster and informed him about it. Over the next few months I tried my best to ensure that your family was not put under danger and it would have succeeded to if your father had put his trust in the right people…."

"Why was I getting the feeling that you were going to rest the blame on my father…..let me think…..oh YES...that's because you HATED him and you have hated me with the same vengeance." Harry cried out.

"I am telling you as I see it, Potter." The sneer was back in the voice. "It is true that I hated James Potter but I would have never wish death on him." His tone softened again. "The only reason for that is the fact that your father was married to Lily Evans. I knew Lily Evans even before she started Hogwarts. We lived a few neighborhoods apart at Spinner's End. Lily Evans has been my only true friend through the first five years of Hogwarts. I am a Half-Blood, Potter and was never truly accepted into the Slytherin House until I started behaving like a muggleborn-hating Slytherin. Lily Evans however distanced herself from me the moment I started calling other muggleborns Mudbloods and so on and so forth. The only reason I joined the Death-Eaters was to fit in and to prove myself. But you don't resign from the death-eaters, you are killed. So I simply marched on and as you might have deducted by now, my considerable Occlumency and Legilimency skills allowed me to keep my true inclinations a secret. However the moment I learnt that Lily Evans was in grave danger, I knew that it had to be stopped. Five years of friendship when you are friendless and alone is difficult to simply overlook, forget or disregard. I did try my best to rectify my mistake but by then it was out of my hands and control and knowledge. And I can assure you that I had no idea as to who gave the information about your location to The Dark Lord." Snape finished his literally a proclamation and then simply stood by the windows silently.

"_Gin?" _Harry asked for help as he was certainly confused.

"_You and I both know that you will do the right thing. You always do." _Ginny replied.

"_Well, this time I don't know what the right-thing is." _Harry shot back.

"_That might work on some one who can't read your thoughts, Harry. Not me." _Ginny replied back with the same swiftness.

Even as Harry was wording his reply to Snape, he looked at him and then it struck him. The look on Snape's face went beyond simply deep friendship and he groaned out loudly to the surprise of the Professors in the room.

"Why in the world did you have to love my mother?" Harry groaned out. "Just don't mention it again. I think that I can certainly live without those thoughts." Harry replied and made his way towards the door and this time it opened without any hitch.


	22. Meeting Pettigrew

Harry made his way towards the Gryffindor common-room knowing fully well that he was going to be literally tormented for information. But all he wanted to do was crash into his bed and this time sleep well into the evening. It had been one hell of a night. Not exactly a night that he would want to remember forever but it wasn't a night that he would forget that easily either.

Harry reached the portrait-hole, but before he could open out trooped out the twins, Ron, Hermione and Ginny. It was clear that Percy wasn't too happy about letting them out but couldn't do anything as curfew certainly didn't apply anymore. Wordlessly the six started making their way towards Peeves' classroom. Ten minutes later, they were all seated comfortably around table in the classroom and it looked like everyone was bursting with questions. Hermione especially looked absolutely intent on questioning the hell out of Harry. Harry decided that he might as well start the 'tale' before Hermione started shooting off her questions.

"Sirius was never the Secret-keeper. As a decoy they switched it to Peter Pettigrew………" Harry began and finished the entire story ten minutes later to an audience that had been stunned into silence. Harry had left out absolutely nothing. Not even Snape's involvement. Though he had stopped at describing Snape's and his mother's association only at friendship. Nobody said anything for a long time. Harry had given a hell a lot of information and everyone was bound to need sometime well a lot of time to process it all. It was Ron who spoke up the first.

"So let me get this straight." Ron began. "You know that Snape gave information to You-know-who, which made him come after you and your parents but you decided to forgive him only because he turned spy at 'great personal' risk?" Ron asked.

Harry did not reply immediately, he was too busy kneading his forehead. It really had been a long night. He started replying after a moment. "Look, Snape is a bastard. Nothing changes that. He hates me and I hate him and nothing will ever change that. But he did apparently change sides and worse of it all, Professor Dumbledore trusts him and well Snape did buy my parents fifteen months, so……" Harry left that hanging. "Look it's not like I can ever forgive him or something. He is a bastard, but a bastard whom Dumbledore trusts so……Just let's never mention it again. Snape is just the Potions' Professor and a son-of-a-bitch. Life was much simpler when that was the case." Harry added after a few moments and then simply closed his eyes, leaned onto Ginny's shoulders and closed his eyes. He could hear Hermione shooting questions at him but Ginny managed to silence her and a few moments later sleep overcame him.

Meanwhile back in the Headmaster's office it had taken over ten minutes for anyone to speak-up and it was Professor Lupin who spoke up. "You are rather lucky Severus; that Harry has Lily's heart and compassion. Anybody, absolutely anybody else and your body would have been missing a head right now. How do you sleep at night and get up and then insult James without any reservations?" Professor Lupin in a tone that would never have been attributed to him. Snape only glared at Lupin in reply and Lupin had absolutely no qualms about glaring back.

"And nobody besides Harry James Potter would have run after a man who was a mass-murderer and evidently out to murder him." Professor McGonagall added.

"That sums-up the entire situation." Professor Dumbledore added. "Please do excuse me. I need to call off the Ministry-search and explain a few things."

"What are you going to tell them?" Professor McGonagall asked. Professor Dumbledore took his time before replying.

"Harry searched unsuccessfully for the entire night in the Forbidden Forest." Professor Dumbledore replied. "Minerva, please do inform Harry about the cover-story."

"You are not going to tell them about Sirius not being the secret-keeper and the rest?" Professor Lupin asked not managing to hide the surprise in his voice.

"Harry summed it up perfectly, am afraid." Professor Dumbledore began explaining. "Until Peter Pettigrew can be found out, I am afraid that my hands are tied. I will try and overturn the kiss that had been authorized against Sirius Black. Besides that and trying to ensure that Sirius Black receives a full trial this time, I cannot do anything without revealing tonight's events. If we were to reveal the full extent of tonight's proceedings, the ministry and perhaps even the Wizengamot would want to question Harry and that would be unfortunate to say the least."

The days post Harry's apparently "unsuccessful" chase after Black were quite interesting to say the least for Harry. The story that had finally gained acceptance among all the students and the staff was that Harry had apparently somehow managed to scare off Black and had then given him chase out of the castle and into the Forbidden Forest. It seemed that students couldn't decide what was more impressive; the fact that Harry gave chase to a mass-murderer or the fact that Harry managed to spend almost an entire night in the Forbidden Forest and come out unscathed. The ministry seemed to have bought the story about Black managing to shake off Harry somewhere in the Forbidden Forest.

The six who knew the whole truth were least interested in what the other students were thinking or doing. Hermione had been quick to the draw and even before Harry had woken up she had a timetable ready with everyone having being assigned a certain schedule to search the Marauder's Map for any sign of Peter Pettigrew.

Harry had also wasted no time in asking Ragnok for advice. Ragnok's reply had been prompt and as usual quite comprehensive. It turned out that Ragnok had been originally partially wrong about Sirius' trial. It turned out that Bartemius Crouch who was the head of the Magical Law Enforcement Department at that time had enacted a draconian law which enabled the department to throw suspected death-eaters into Azkaban without a full-trial. However, since that particular law was repelled, the Wizengamot was supposed to try those sentenced to Azkaban under the full provisions of law, but that never happened. To add insult to injury Sirius Black was unbelievably the only person ever to have been sentenced under that particular law. It didn't stop there. Crouch's own son was arrested on suspicions and later convicted of torturing the Longbottoms and was given a full-trial. Needless to say Bartemius Crouch was most certainly one of Harry's least favourite persons at the moment. Ragnok too like Professor Dumbledore had said that without Peter Pettigrew there was no way that Sirius Black could be exonerated.

The most noticeable change however was in Ron. He had taken it as more than a personal insult that his pet was actually an Animagus and the one responsible for Voldemort finding the Potters. The days following Harry's chase, he could be seen always petting Crookshanks and feeding her anything available everytime he spotted her. This amused everyone in the Gryffindor common-room to no small extent and he had more than a few wisecracks to bear through.

Harry's lessons the next few days too were interesting. Snape ignored the Gryffindors and in particular Harry so completely that anybody observing the class would have thought that the Gryffindors were actually invisible to Snape. It was however the Defense lesson that Harry was awaiting rather eagerly. After the class Professor Lupin asked Harry to stay back and Harry waited patiently for the rest of the students to file out. Professor Lupin took a few moments before he spoke up.

"Would you tell me the parts that you left out in the Headmaster's office?" He simply asked and waited for Harry's reply.

"I know that Sirius is a dog and my father was an Animagus too. Besides that everything is the same." Harry replied.

"_You forgot about London." _Ginny reminded him.

"_I know. But it isn't relevant." _Harry replied back.

"Your father was a stag." Professor Lupin simply replied and then let Harry a minute as he tried to picture it. "Can I ask you how you are looking for Peter?" Professor Lupin asked after a few moments.

"What makes you think we are looking for him?" Harry asked with raised eyebrows.

"_Are you going to him about the Map?" _Ginny asked.

"_No. Fred and George found it and it should be their prerogative about telling anyone about it." _Harry replied.

Professor Lupin smiled before replying. "As you reply everytime you want to tell a half-truth, you found the chamber of secrets and Voldemort. Everything else is a downgrade. That and I do believe that Peter will not stray away from the relative safety of Hogwarts."

Harry laughed out. "We have our ways and dare I say that as a Professor you wouldn't really want to know about it."

"I suppose not." Professor Lupin replied with a smile playing on his face. "What about Severus?" He asked after a minute.

"I didn't kill him, did I?" Harry replied tersely. As far as he was concerned as long as no one mentioned Snape's involvement again, he would be more than happy to simply forget it forever.

"You really are one hell of a person, Harry." Professor Lupin started. "And I know that your parents would have been really proud of you……"

"Sirius isn't free yet and Pettigrew is Merlin knows where." Harry interrupted.

Professor Lupin did not reply immediately but stared long and hard at Harry. It was almost the kind of look that Professor Dumbledore possessed and Harry had a feeling that he knew exactly what Professor Lupin was going to say.

"I suppose you are right." Harry simply said and started to make his way towards the door.

About a week after the "Black-chase" Harry and Ginny had started brewing the potion for identifying their Animagus forms. It was an unbelievably complex potion and the brewing time of 45-days did not help matters at all, but Harry was fairly confident that he would be able to brew it properly. The last thing he wanted was to brew it incorrectly and end up poisoning himself or Ginny.

There was another Hogsmeade visit before the Easter holidays and all the Gryffindors except Percy boycotted it again. Only this time the twins did not prank the entire school to prevent them from visiting Hogsmeade. Harry and the rest of the third years were rather grateful that the entire house was not visiting Hogsmeade as a show of support but it couldn't continue. After-all it was the last few chances for the seventh years to visit Hogsmeade as Hogwarts students. Harry had a talk with the twins and convinced them to pass on that message to the rest of the students. Fred and George agreed to it and to Harry's irritation counted it as reason number 44 on the list that they had been keeping.

However the biggest event preceding the Easter holidays was Hermione walking out of the Divination class and deciding to drop it. Of all the persons in the world, Hermione was the last person the Harry expected to drop a class after insulting the Professor. But as Ginny pointed out to him, Hermione always seemed to resent Trelawney and frankly Divination was not a subject that Hermione would ever be good at.

As the Easter holidays approached Wood went into a complete overdrive with the Quidditch practices. Gryffindor were to play Slytherin a week after the Easter holidays and it was a virtual final for the Quidditch Cup. As both the teams had won both their matches against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw it was a winner takes all wherein the points didn't matter. Harry knew that he would have the distinct advantage with his Firebolt but that would not stop the Slytherin chasers from taking a huge lead. It was not an easy thing to do against the three Gryffindor girls and Wood but it still was a possibility.

The atmosphere in the castle was rather tense and more than a few minor scuffles and duels broke out in the corridors between Gryffindors and Slytherins. The Slytherins also tried to take Harry out of the match by trying to injure him, which made Wood mandate that Harry be surrounded by at least four other Gryffindors while on his way to classes and even to practices. The entire house took that order rather sincerely and began earnestly following Harry literally everywhere from everyday classes to Quidditch practices. It ensured that Harry was safe and sound but the members of his "security detail" ended up being late to their classes which meant that Gryffindor lost more than a handful points but nobody really cared considering that Gryffindor were about 850-points below zero and even breaking into the positives was well out of the question in the remaining months.

Peter Pettigrew was yet to show up on the Marauder's Map and Harry had a felling that perhaps he had indeed flown the coop. However since even Professor Lupin agreed with Sirius' assessment that Peter Pettigrew would never leave Hogwarts unless something really 'earth-shattering' if you might happened, he had no choice but to follow Hermione's comprehensive and extensive time-table of checking the Map and hope for the best.

Finally it was the day before the match and if looks could kill half of Gryffindor and Slytherin would have been dead by then. The tension in the Great Hall during dinner was palpable and Harry was sure that it would take literally only a spark to set off the inferno. None of the Professors at the High Table were eating but instead had their eyes peeled out on the two tables for any sign of misdemeanor. Harry was sure that if Professor McGonagall spotted anything she would probably be by the table before you could say Quidditch, however she wasn't needed as nobody was fool enough to start a skirmish with ten pairs of authority-eyes looking over the four tables. Finally with about ten minutes still left for dinner to conclude, Wood gestured the team to return to the common-room and the seven started making their way with literally the entire Gryffindor house accompanying them.

The following morning, as was the norm on the day of a match Harry woke up at an absolutely ungodly hour and after a shower and slipping into his Quidditch robes, he made his way to the common-room, the Firebolt in his hands. The three chasers were already there and waiting for the rest of the team to turn up. At exactly 6:00am the twins and Wood turned up and ten minutes later the seven players were sitting in the Great Hall staring at their cups of coffee and tea. Well the twins were cracking jokes but nobody was really paying any attention to them and they didn't seem to mind it either. The mood was rather tense among the team as even though they were without a question superior player, the Slytherins had better brooms. Well Harry had a Firebolt but the remaining six would be up against the faster Nimbus 2001s. That and the Slytherins were known to spare no effort to put a player out of action using their beaters. Fred and George were undoubtedly good beaters but they couldn't possibly cover all five players continuously and it would take only a small miss to be a player short.

By 6:30am the Professors started arriving at the High Table and by 6:45am everybody of the Hogwarts' teaching staff was seated at the table. Harry had a feeling that the Professors had arrived early with the sole intention of preventing any skirmish, should the two teams be present in the Hall at the same time. Snape was shooting him looks of absolute malice and Harry had a very good idea why. Snape was dressed completely in Slytherin green making it pretty clear that he was taking sides. Professor McGonagall of course was dressed in the usual black; she of course would never take any sides openly.

It was about 7:00am that the first supporter of Gryffindor arrived in the form of none other than Hagrid. He was wearing a scarlet coat that had clearly been magicked but not too well as the original brown could still be seen at many places and he was wearing a golden hat that ten sizes too small for him. It took ten seconds for his appearance to sink in and then the twins gave him a roar of appreciation and the rest of the team couldn't help but smile at Hagrid's efforts to show them his support. Snape simply glared at Hagrid with malevolence written large on his face while Professor McGonagall looked at him disapprovingly.

At 8:00am other students began arriving in the Great Hall and Wood had his team start for the Quidditch pitch even though the start was over three hours away.

"Okay -- no wind to speak of -- sun's a bit bright, that could impair your vision, watch out for it -- ground's fairly hard, good, that'll give us a fast kickoff --" Wood paced the field, staring around with the team behind him. Half an hour later, they saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance and some of the Slytherins started walking towards the pitch.

"Locker rooms," said Wood tersely.

Wood spent the rest of the time walking up and down the locker-room, looking over the diagrams again and again. The rest of the team simply looked on. Harry tried to think of everything else but Quidditch but within two seconds his thoughts returned to Quidditch. It of course didn't help that Ginny was thinking of Quidditch too. Unbelievably in what seemed to be no time Wood was saying—"Okay, it's time, let's go…"

"_All the Best, Harry." _Ginny wished him as he started walking down the tunnel.

They walked out onto the field to a tidal wave of noise. Three quarters of the crowd was wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the Gryffindor lion upon them, or brandishing banners with slogans like "GO GRYFFINDOR!" and "LIONS FOR THE CUK' Behind the Slytherin goal posts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; the silver serpent of Slytherin glittered on their flags, and Professor Snape sat in the very front row, wearing green like everyone else, and a very grim smile.

"And here are the Gryffindors!" yelled Lee Jordan, who was acting as commentator as usual. "Potter, Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best team Hogwarts has seen in a good few years --"

Lee's comments were drowned by a tide of "boos" from the Slytherin end.

"And here come the Slytherin team, led by Captain Flint. He's made some changes in the lineup and seems to be going for size rather than skill --" More boos from the Slytherin crowd. Harry, however, thought Lee had a point. Malfoy was easily the smallest person On the Slytherin team; the rest of them were enormous.

"Captains, shake hands!" said Madam Hooch.

Flint and Wood approached each other and grasped each other's hand very tightly; it looked as though each was trying to break the other's fingers. "Mount your brooms!" said Madam Hooch. "Three... two... one..."

The sound of her whistle was lost in the roar from the crowd as fourteen brooms rose into the air. Harry felt his hair fly back off his forehead; his nerves left him in the thrill of the flight; he glanced around, saw Malfoy on his tail, and sped off in search of the Snitch.

Harry tuned out of the commentary but could still know whenever Gryffindor scored a goal as three-fourths of the stadium cheered. Malfoy was trying to closely mark, Harry but the Firebolt was way too good for the Nimbus 2001 and Harry was way out of Malfoy's reach even when he wasn't flying at full-speed. However, Harry didn't want to put too much distance between himself and Malfoy. For all he knew, Malfoy might spot the snitch first and it might be closer to Malfoy and if Harry was too far from Malfoy it would be very difficult for him to reach the snitch before Malfoy.

It was about half an hour into the game when, Harry spotted the snitch. He was circling the pitch and he almost overlooked and overshot the golden-slimmer when he realized that it was the snitch that was about twenty feet below the height at which he was flying. He turned around and was about to go into a dive when he realized that his Firebolt had suddenly slowed down.

"_It's Malfoy. He is still on his broom but is holding back your broom." _Ginny supplied.

Harry's decision was made in an instant. He was flying at least 300feet above the ground and he supposed that in a free-fall he would have at least 8 or 9 seconds before he hit the ground. The snitch was unbelievably not even moving and Harry was dead over it. An instant later Harry jumped from his broom, his hand out-stretched to catch the snitch. A dead silence fell over the stadium.

"_HARRY!" _Ginny screamed over their mental link but Harry ignored her and a second later the snitch enveloped in his hand. Wasting absolutely no time, he whipped out his wand and pointed it at his Firebolt onto which Malfoy was still hanging on with a stunned look on his face.

"Accio Firebolt!" Harry screamed out even as he continued in his freefall. A moment later the Firebolt was winched out of Malfoy's hand and a second later Harry found the Firebolt shooting towards him, he let go of the snitch and with his left hand deftly caught the Firebolt and mounted it. Six seconds after he jumped off the broom and with barely thirty feet left before he splattered onto the ground Harry had mounted the broom and was back in the air, the snitch was floating about serenely where Harry had let go off it and a moment later he had it back in his hand and he held it high above his head.

The entire episode had taken exactly twelve seconds and it was the longest that an entire Quidditch stadium had been so completely quiet. A moment later a thunderous roar was heard as everyone realized that Gryffindor had won the match and consequently the Quidditch Cup. A couple of seconds later Wood thumped onto him and then the twins and then Angelina, Katie and Alicia completed the group hug a few moments later.

"_HARRY, YOU BLOODY IDIOT!" _Came Ginny's irritated and infuriated voice over the mental-link and Harry recoiled both mentally and physically.

"_Ginny, I…" _Harry began but was interrupted.

"_Save it, Harry. Nothing you can say can justify you jumping from a broom while being hundreds of feet in the air like a crazy idiot." _Ginny said.

"_Ginny I knew that I could do it. C'mon I am quite good at summoning charms and I managed to get onto the broom with at-least a couple of seconds to spare." _Harry tried to explain even as Wood was slapping his back like there was no tomorrow. _"Please don't be mad at me Gin. Please. It hurts and I can't bear it for you to be mad at me. Please……" _Harry pleaded.

"_What would you do, if I had pulled a stunt like that?" _Was Ginny's uncomplicated yet complex reply.

"_I…I am sorry. I promise you, Gin that I will never pull a stunt like that again." _Harry replied and he felt Ginny's irritation and anger ebb away a bit.

"_You better keep up that promise, Harry." _Ginny warned.

"_I will……as far as possible. But you know if somebody's life is in danger or something you know…"_ Harry replied.

"_I know. Otherwise I wouldn't be alive." _Ginny replied very seriously. _"C'mon now cheer up. We won the Quidditch Cup." _Ginny said and Harry couldn't help but smile. They really had won the Quidditch Cup twice in three years at that and he was yet to lose a match.

Harry finally tuned back into what was happening around him. Wood had stopped his back-slapping and was now crying uncontrollably into his shoulders. He could hear Angelina's, Alicia's, and Katie's voices, "We've won the Cup! We've won the Cup!" Tangled together in a many-armed hug, the Gryffindor team sank, yelling hoarsely, back to earth.

Wave upon wave of crimson supporters was pouring over the barriers onto the field. Hands were raining down on their backs. Harry had a confused impression of noise and bodies pressing in on him. Then he, and the rest of the team, was hoisted onto the shoulders of the crowd. Thrust into the light, he saw Hagrid, Plastered with crimson rosettes -- "Yeh beat 'em, Harry, yeh beat 'em!

The look on everyone's face was however that of shock and surprise mingled with delight. A few moments later the team found themselves thrust into the Teacher's stand where Professor Dumbledore stood with the enormous Quidditch Cup. He presented the Cup to Wood and a tremendous roar was heard again. Wood passed the Cup to the twins and then to the girls and finally Angelina passed it to Harry. Harry accepted it and then lifted it high in the air and the Gryffindors gave another mighty roar. He spotted Hermione and Ron in the crowd and one look at Hermione's face was enough to tell him that he was going to receive a hell a lot of grief for that jump.

Albus Dumbledore looked on as the Gryffindors celebrated winning the Quidditch Cup. A cup that they won when their seeker, Harry Potter jumped off his broom while being three hundred feet above the ground and caught the snitch. Jumping down thirty odd feet onto wooden seats when the broom was threatening to throw him off was one thing but jumping down three hundred feet only because the opposition seeker was holding onto the broom and thus impairing his chance of catching the snitch was a completely different thing. But the story did not end there. No sooner had Harry Potter caught the snitch his wand was out and he summouned the broom and about thirty feet above the ground he mounted the broom and was back into the air. Albus Dumbledore was pretty sure that summoning charms were taught in the fourth-year. But then Harry had learnt the Patronus charm by himself in the third-year itself, the summouning charm was hardly an Everest compared to it. Harry Potter never ceased and probably never would cease to amaze and intrigue him.

Harry woke-up on the morning following the game only to realize that it was actually afternoon and not morning. There was a note on his bed-stand and he had a feeling that the note held summouns from Professor McGonagall. Professor McGonagall hadn't said anything when Harry had handed over the trophy but that probably was probably due to the fact that she was a bit emotional about winning the Cup more than anything else. Harry looked around the dorm and realized that everyone was still sleeping and the time was 11:30am. Of course eating and joking and joking some more until 4:00am meant that no-one was ever going to make it to breakfast but now it seemed that even lunch would be missed by most Gryffindors. The higher years had also indulged in a Firewhisky and were quite drunk when they fell asleep right on the couch and Harry was burdened with the responsibility of levitating them to their respective dorms. Ginny too was still asleep and Harry decided that he might as well get the 'hearing' out of the way before getting some food.

Harry took a shower and changed before heading to the common-room. It was almost completely empty. Hermione was the only student working away at something in a corner.

"Good Morning, Hermione." Harry greeted her. "Don't tell me that you are studying already. It hasn't been even 24hours since we won the Cup."

"24 hours and 11 minutes, Harry." Hermione simply replied without looking up from her books. "And Professor McGonagall has been looking for you." She said and this time she looked up.

"Yeah, I know." Harry replied. "I will be back in a few minutes and will hopefully still be alive." Harry replied and Hermione muttered something about stupid games and crazy boys before returning to her book. Harry stepped out of the portrait-hole and then made his way to Professor McGonagall's office. He knocked on it and then entered the office on being invited in. Professor McGonagall was sitting behind her desk and was accompanied by Professor Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout and Snape. Harry gave a mental sigh of frustration. It seemed that an entire execution-squad was lined up.

"Err…I will come later if I am interrupting anything." Harry said more out of hope rather than politeness.

"No—no not at all, Harry. Our meeting has been in session since quite some time. An intermission would be welcomed by all." Professor Dumbledore said as he gestured Harry to enter the room.

Harry mentally cursed as he entered the office and sat down on the chair that Professor Dumbledore had pointed out.

"_Whoa what's got you in such splendid humour, so early in the morning?" _Ginny seemed to have woken up.

"_It's afternoon Gin and Professor McGonagall had summouned me, probably to talk about the jump and here I am only to find that the 'hearing' will take place in front of all the Head of Houses and Professor Dumbledore." _Harry replied.

"_Good, I can always do with some early morning entertainment." _Ginny replied impishly.

"_Glad to be that entertainer. Though this might be the last time that I can entertain you." _Harry shot back only to find Ginny laughing in response.

"So, Mr. Potter I presume that you are aware of the reasons I requested your presence here today." Professor McGonagall had begun the proceedings.

"Err….I don't think that I would be too helpful in your discussions." Harry replied tongue firmly in cheek.

"_Well are we adventurous today or what?" _Came Ginny's voice making Harry smile.

"Potter, stop your big-headed nonsense." Snape never seemed to control his tongue.

"A week of detentions, Harry and fifty points from Gryffindor. Anymore stunts like that and your Quidditch days are over." Professor McGonagall said firmly. "Any questions?"

"Please, Ma'am you can't be serious. I knew exactly what I was doing and……." Harry began but stopped after spotting the look on Professor McGonagall's face.

"Yes, you were saying something Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall said with her eyebrows raised.

"All-right no more jumping off brooms. But you got to admit it; it was a brilliant move. Nobody could have countered that move." Harry said. "Of course it would have been game-over if the snitch had moved, but……." Harry trailed off as Professor McGonagall was giving him a look that should have melted him on the spot while everyone except Snape had an amused expression on their faces.

"_It was nice knowing you, Potter." _Came Ginny's amused retort.

"Mr. Potter whenever I die do bear in mind that Potters, that includes you and your father would be responsible for shaving off at-least a couple of years off my life." Professor McGonagall said rather sternly and Harry immediately felt a bit ashamed that he must have really shocked a lot of people at the stadium. "I hope that Quidditch Cup is indeed cancelled the next year. It would save my cardiac muscles a lot of inutile trouble."

Harry was in a rather adventurous mood and probably still on a sugar-high thanks to the enormous amounts of sweets that he had consumed so he actually replied to it.

"Well, you know what they say. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger!" Harry said and it was then that he realized the full impact of Professor McGonagall's comment. "WHAT? You are canceling the Quidditch Cup next year? BUT WHY? I swear I won't jump from brooms anymore." Harry finished a bit childishly.

"Don't worry, Harry." Professor Dumbledore began explaining though amusement was practically splashed in his tone. "We might be having a non-Quidditch tournament involving the three prominent schools……"

"ALBUS!" Professor McGonagall interrupted the Headmaster.

"Err, yes. Well Harry nothing is final and I can assure you that the Quidditch Cup is not being cancelled for ever, just perhaps—perhaps for the next year. Anyways all of this is speculation and I would really appreciate if you simply forgot about it." Professor Dumbledore said and Harry simply nodded and started to make for the door.

"If—rather when you do figure it out Mr. Potter, I am sure that you will keep it a secret from the rest of the school. Am I correct in that assuming that?" Professor McGonagall added sternly as Harry reached the door. Harry simply nodded and closed the door behind him.

"_What the hell was that all about?" _Harry mentally asked as he started making his way towards the common-room again.

"_I think, I know what they were talking about." _Ginny replied as Harry felt her thinking really hard over something.

"_You do?"_

"_Yeah, I think that there is a tournament involving the three best schools in Europe. Tri-Wizard tournament, I think." _Ginny speculated a bit cautiously. _"Yes, I am sure that it is known as the Tri-Wizard tournament but I think that it had been abolished almost a century ago or something."_

"_Guess, it is being re-instated now." _Harry replied. _"Though I wish the Quidditch Cup wasn't cancelled." _Harry said as he entered the Gryffindor common-room.

"_Well with you winning all games, it is becoming a bit boring mind you." _Ginny said but then corrected herself as she realized what Harry's reply was going to be. _"I take-back that. You do entertain everyone involved." _Ginny said and Harry couldn't help but smile a bit.

It seemed that the entire Gryffindor House was on a victory-high for an entire week after the Quidditch Cup victory. Harry was sure that they must have lost at least another two hundred points simply because impromptu smiles that most Gryffindors would burst into as they were reminded of the victory. Harry's victory-high was countered first thing on the following morning when, Hermione handed him and Ron revision time-tables to follow for the remaining part of the term. Hermione had drawn-up one for Ginny too but she out-right refused to follow it.

Hermione was of course not pleased to know that Harry's week-long detentions would disturb the time-table. So she had taken the liberty of talking with Professor McGonagall and had the detentions modified a bit. Instead of spending a week cleaning toilets and hallways, Harry was to spend two hours everyday in Professor McGonagall's office studying for the exams.

The only subject, Harry was a bit tense about was Arithmancy. He had all the other subjects covered quite comfortably. Of course he could never guarantee what marks he would receive in Potions but he was sure that he couldn't fail in it.

Three weeks after the Quidditch final, Harry and Ginny were gathered in the Room of Requirement. The time of literally the reckoning had arrived. They had finally finished the brewing of the Animagus Potion.

"Do you want to go first or do you want me to go first?" Harry asked Ginny who was standing on the opposite side of the cauldron.

Ginny took her time before replying. "I think that we need to take the Potion together." She replied. At Harry's raised eye-brows she continued. "I feel dizzy and sleepy everytime Madame Pomfrey gives you the Sleeping Potion. This is a much more powerful potion and we have no idea how it might affect us."

"It might poison us together." Harry said rather cautiously.

"C'mon Harry. Have some confidence in yourself. The Potion looks exactly like described in the book." Ginny responded. "We are not going to be poisoned, now quit being a girl." Ginny egged on him with a small smirk.

"Aren't you a girl?" Harry asked with a grin.

"Shut-up, Potter and divide the damn potion." Ginny retorted.

"Well, your tongue certainly does belie your feminine status." Harry countered as he poured the Potion and then handed Ginny a flask.

"Cheers Gin." Harry said.

"Bottoms up." Ginny added and then the two gulped down the Potion.

Almost immediately Harry could feel himself go into a trance. Everything went black and Harry wondered for a moment whether he had accidentally poisoned himself. But then suddenly a black-phoenix burst onto the scene. Harry was quite surprised. He was sure that he had read that he could not have a magical form and also he was sure that he had never heard of a black phoenix. Rather a golden-black phoenix. The body of the phoenix was black while his tail feathers were golden and as messy as his hair was. The only thing that surprised him was that the pelt on the top of his head was red in colour. He looked closely at the phoenix again. His eyes were green in colour. Great, Harry thought anyone would easily be able to identify him. Then suddenly the phoenix disappeared and it was replaced by a black jaguar. It was his Patronus. The Jaguar had spotted skin and green eyes too. But instead of white whiskers the jaguar had red whiskers. Harry observed the jaguar for a few more minutes and suddenly the picture started getting a bit unsteady and suddenly Harry opened his eyes to the Room of Requirement.

Ginny was getting up next to him too. Harry got up and then literally threw himself into the couch that was behind him. It was a few moments before either of them spoke up.

"Two forms for you too, Gin?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, a jaguar and a phoenix." Ginny replied making Harry raise his eyebrows in thought.

"As in you saw the jaguar first and then the phoenix?"

"Yes." Ginny replied.

"It was the other way round for me." Harry added a bit pointlessly.

"I think that the jaguar is your primary form and the phoenix is yours." Harry explained though he knew that Ginny had figured it out too. "Two forms and to top it off one of them is magical. Why couldn't it be a damn simple, normal dog or cat?" Harry sighed in frustration.

"When have you and me and by extension 'us' ever been normal?" Ginny asked and for some reason both of them found it very funny and burst into laughter.

Harry and Ginny had both agreed that they would begin working on the actual transformation only after they were perfect with the Transfiguration spells that the book had said they should be really good at. They were getting there but Harry had a feeling that they would be able to start on the actual transformation only in the next academic year.

About two weeks before the exams Hagrid surprised all of the third-years by announcing that they would be having the exams within the next ten minutes. Needless to say everyone protested with Hermione protests being the loudest. She insisted that they needed time to revise the various magical creatures that they had been introduced to through the year. However, Hagrid asserted that if they had simply being paying attention in the class they would be able to do quite well.

In Harry's opinion the exam really was quite easy. Everyone had to manage to get close to and pat a Hippogriff and bonus points would be given to anyone who managed to get the Hippogriff to fly into the air and back. Hagrid then individually asked each of them questions about a particular animal that they had studied over the year. Harry managed to get near the Hippogriff assigned to him quite easily and after a few moments of coaxing he also managed to convince the Hippogriff to give him a small ride around the paddock. However he was the only one who either managed to or was brave enough to try and gain bonus points for the flight as nobody else not even Ron and Hermione's hippogriffs gave them a ride. Harry was also asked questions about Cornish Pixies and Kneazles and he felt that he had done quite a decent job of answering them.

Eventually even though Hermione wasn't really pleased about the surprise test she was rather happy when Hagrid informed that they would be now having classes directly in the next year. Hermione was rather thrilled with the extra revision time that had suddenly become available to her.

The exams finally commenced with Transfiguration and Harry practically breezed through it. He and Ginny were practicing much more advanced and complex spells and third-year Transfiguration spells were a bit like 'Wingardium Leviosa' for Harry. Of course, Harry would never quite master the theory but that could not be helped. Charms was a walk in the park too and Professor Flitwick was rather impressed with him.

The following day the third years were to have Potions. Snape really had lost the 'terror' effect that he seemed to produce over the students and now he had become just another Professor who was an arse. That said he still tried his best to intimidate students but it didn't have the same effect as it would have had a few months ago. Harry's Confusing Concoction came out quite perfectly and Harry saw Snape sneer in disgust as he marked something on the mark-sheet.

Then came Astronomy at midnight, up on the tallest tower; History of Magic on Wednesday morning, in which Harry scribbled everything Peeves had ever told him and Ron about medieval witch-hunts. He was pretty sure that one of them was going to top the History class again, much to the consternation of Hermione. Both Ron and Harry had offered to share their notes with her but she had refused them saying that she would rather stick to the official version as that was the 'correct' thing to do. Wednesday afternoon meant Herbology, in the greenhouses under a baking-hot sun; then back to the common room once more, with sun burnt necks, thinking longingly of this time next day, when it would all be over.

Their second to last exam, on Thursday morning, was Defense against the Dark Arts. Professor Lupin had compiled the most unusual exam any of them had ever taken; a sort of obstacle course outside in the sun, where they had to wade across a deep paddling pool containing a grindylow, cross a series of potholes full of Red Caps, squish their way across a patch of marsh while ignoring misleading directions from a hinkypunk, then climb into an old trunk and battle with a new boggart. Unfortunately for Professor Lupin, once again Harry managed to destroy the boggart and the exam had to held up for fifteen minutes while it was replaced.

"Excellent, Harry," Lupin muttered as Harry climbed out of the trunk, grinning. "Full marks. Though I would have really appreciated if you hadn't destroyed the boggart."

"Can't turn your best friend dying into anything funny, Sir." Harry replied dryly.

"Only a best-friend, Harry? Professor Lupin asked with a grin on his face.

"Well no matter what, she will always be a best-friend." Harry simply replied.

"_Nice answer, Potter." _Came Ginny's reply, who seemed to be bored at her Charms exam. _"You are getting good with words."_

"_What can I say; you were the teacher after all." _Harry replied.

"_An even better answer." _Ginny said as Harry felt her smile really broadly.

Flushed with his success, Harry hung around to watch Ron and Hermione. Ron did very well until he reached the hinkypunk, which successfully confused him into sinking waist-high into the quagmire. Hermione did everything perfectly until she reached the trunk with the boggart in it. After about a minute inside it, she burst out again, screaming.

"Hermione!" said Lupin, startled. "What's the matter?"

"P -- P -- Professor McGonagall!" Hermione gasped, pointing into the trunk. "Sh -- she said I'd failed everything!"

Harry and Ron couldn't help but burst into laughter at that but they were silenced the moment Hermione calmed down and gave them a look that would have killed them on the spots if looks could kill. Trying to control their laughter, Ron and Harry silently started following Hermione up to the castle to revise for their last exam. Arithmancy was the last paper that Harry and Hermione were to appear for, while Ron was to appear for Divination. Harry was still a bit concerned about Arithmancy but not as much as he was when he had started revising for it.

Harry however stopped dead at the entrance of the castle the when he saw the Minister of Magic and two men walking up the stairs rather gaily. Harry's inside froze for a few moments as he wondered whether the worst had happened and Sirius had been arrested and given the kiss. Giving up all pretence he practically bounded up the remaining way to greet the minister.

"Good-Afternoon, Sir." Harry greeted the Minister.

"_They would not have caught him, Harry. We would have known about it. They would have made sure that everyone knew about it." _Ginny said.

"Ah, Harry Potter. A very Good Afternoon to you too." The Minister replied as he turned around to see who was greeting him. The two men fell behind at a safe distance. Harry supposed that they were his bodyguards. "How are you doing, son? I heard that you gallantly chased Black a few months ago but lost him in the Forbidden Forest."

"Err…yes, I did. Have you managed to arrest him or something?" Harry asked hoping that Ginny really was right.

"No son. Not as yet. But it is only a matter of time, I am sure." Minister Fudge tried to assure Harry though he sounded awfully skeptical of it himself.

"Oh." Harry replied wondering whether he should say something. "If he is caught, are you going to give him a trial this time around?" Harry asked.

"_Harry, be careful. You don't want to accidentally reveal something." _Ginny said over the link.

"What do you mean?" Fudge suddenly seemed to be on his guard.

"Well nothing much, but I know that Crouch did not give him a trial and….."

"How do you know all this?" Fudge asked a bit too loudly.

"Oh that, well I know that he was out to kill me. So I went through the public records and discovered that he did not receive a trial. Nobody from the press seems to have picked this up but if they do your position might get threatened and all because of silly paper-work. After-all there are dozens of witnesses to the murders aren't there. Your position as the upholder of justice would be strengthened by it actually." Harry tried to play to Fudge's ego. He was also quite sure that Fudge had missed the veiled threat in the statement.

"Oh, yes. You are quite smart, I must say." Fudge said as he slapped Harry on the back. "You are right. But that trial can't happen. People will hang me if I say anything about a trial for a known death-eater. My ratings would take a beating. Plus it is a open and shut case. After-all I myself am a witness to Black's carnage. But I must say for a thirteen year old it was a very Good, Harry. You should join the Ministry after Hogwarts; you would become a great asset."

"Well, Sir anything that helps the Ministry." Harry replied a bit frustrated and cursed Fudge under his breath.

"Good—good. Well now I have to go up and meet Dumbledore. I am to have dinner with him though I am here to discuss an unpleasant matter." Fudge tipped his bowler's hat and started making his way towards the Headmaster's office.

"_That was rather sneaky and sly, Mr. Potter." _Ginny said over the link. _"Good-try, Harry."_

"_Yeah, well……." _Harry left that hanging.

The Arithmancy paper turned out to be rather easy as far as Harry was concerned. He wasn't going to top the class but he certainly wasn't going to be anywhere near the bottom either. There was a general air of relief and delight in the common-room thanks to the conclusion of the exams. The twins were being particularly loud and boisterous in the common-room and had planned a party in the common-room. Harry had been enlisted with getting the sweets from Hogsmeade. The twins had apparently already paid a visit to Hogsmeade but their hands were too full to buy sweets and the likes.

So about an hour before dinner, Harry and Ginny started making their way through the tunnel behind the mirror to Hogsmeade. They were running on a bit of a schedule as they knew that Honeydukes closed at sunset. Half an hour after getting into the tunnel they found themselves in open air again and started making their way to the sweet-shop.

"We would like the following sweets, please." Harry handed over the list after reaching the shop.

"Ah, I presume that the exams are out of the way." The man at the counter said.

"Barely thee hours." Ginny replied jovially.

"Who are you?" The man asked. "Generally those red-headed twins, Weasley or something come to buy the sweets."

"They were a bit busy at some other shops today." Harry replied slyly.

Ten minutes later both Harry's and Ginny's hands were laden with Honeydukes sweets. They wondered if they should actually take the tunnel below the Honeydukes shop but that would have been a bit difficult to manage without bringing it to the notice of the owner. Fifty minutes later they were back standing right behind the mirror. Ginny handed over her boxes to Harry and took out the Marauder's Map to check whether the corridor outside the mirror was clear.

"Let's go, Harry." Ginny said as she continued to monitor the map. "The corridor is clear."

Ginny pressed the knob which opened the mirror and then opened the door and entered the corridor. They started making their way towards the common-room, with Ginny still monitoring the map. They had reached the seconds floor when Harry felt a burst of surprise come from Ginny.

"What is it Ginny?" Harry asked verbally. He could feel Ginny's excitement rise. Suddenly Ginny turned around and thrust the map towards Harry's face.

"Take a look at Hagrid's hut." Ginny said.

Harry looked at it and his blood practically froze. A bubble with the name Peter Pettigrew was floating around near Hagrid's hut. Hagrid was nowhere to be seen and neither was Fang. Harry dropped the boxes and set off at a run towards the stairs that led towards the Entrance Hall and thus the exit from the castle.

"_Harry, what are you doing?" _Ginny asked over the mental link. She was running right behind him but with Harry's daily regiment of jogs around the lake he was pulling ahead with every step.

"_Catch him and kill the bastard." _Harry simply replied.

"_Sirius, Harry. Don't do something stupid." _Ginny tried to pacify the rage that was building up inside Harry.

Ten minutes later Harry had reached the door of Hagrid's hut. He paused and took a deep breath. Ginny was about a minute away and Harry decided to wait for her. For all his skills, Pettigrew was a Death Eater and probably knew much better spells and fatal spells at that. A minute later Ginny was by his side. They drew out their wands and hoped that they would be able to overpower him. Hoping for the best, they threw open the door and entered the hut together.

"CRUCIO!" Was all that Harry heard and then the only feeling he heard was that of pain. It was pain like he had never felt before. His very bones were on fire; his head was surely splitting along his scar; his eyes were rolling madly in his head; he wanted it to end ... to black out. Then suddenly it stopped and Harry rolled out on the floor of the hut. Out of the haze of the pain that was threatening to consume him he realized that he had made the cardinal mistake of assuming that Pettigrew would be unarmed and would not be able to fight back and neither would he be aware of their presence. He also realized that Ginny was sprawled out on the floor too.

"Harry Potter, how much of a foolish brave boy have you been?" Pettigrew addressed him in a squeaky and wheezing voice that Harry thought was supposed to be intimidating but came out a bit funny.

"_Ginny are you……well okay?" _Harry asked mentally.

"_Yeah, he cursed you so I only felt the residual effects. But it does hurt." _Ginny replied.

"I am going to get rid of you, Harry Potter and you too Weasley. Then my brothers will welcome me with open arms." Pettigrew squeaked again.

Harry was about to reply when he heard the words 'Stupefy' twice. After the first one which was most likely directed at Ginny, he started feeling a bit drowsy and then a moment later he felt the blackness prevail over him.

The darkness lifted as swiftly as it had come. Harry was about to open to his eyes when he decided against it. He could move his hands and legs but he did not move them substantially. He could hear some screaming going on around him. He panicked for a moment. No it wasn't Ginny. But that meant that it was someone else. Someone else who had followed him wherever he was. Someone who sounded like Sirius.

"_Ginny! Are you awake too?" _Harry sent over the mental link.

"_I think so." _Came Ginny's reply.

"_Any ideas?" _Harry didn't want to rush blindly into anymore situations. Meanwhile the Sirius' screams continued and Harry knew that they would have to act really quickly.

"_Absolutely no. But if we don't Sirius might go insane." _Ginny replied.

Harry's decision was made. He opened his eyes and jumped up to his legs and then almost collapsed. His legs were really in no comfort zone. Pettigrew was still torturing Sirius in a corner and quite oblivious to Harry and Ginny. Harry stood up on his legs and looked around. They were in the Shrieking Shack. Harry could see their wands a few feet away. He knew that they had to get there. Pettigrew was saying something to Sirius but Harry ignored it. Five seconds later he had his wand in his hands.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry bellowed out with his wand pointed towards Pettigrew and a moment later Pettigrew's wand was flying out towards him and Pettigrew was thrown back a few feet

"Hello Pettigrew. I heard that my parents are dead because of you." Harry said in such a cold voice that even Ginny recoiled a bit and Peter Pettigrew actually crawled to a corner.

"_I think that I better check Sirius." _Ginny said as she moved towards Sirius.

"Y—you are not supposed to be conscious. I—I stupefied you." Pettigrew blurted out as a reply.

"Yeah, you should have tied me up too." Harry simply replied. "Now how would you like to die, Pettigrew?"

"I—I will kill him, Harry not you." A raspy and shaky voice said from the corner of the room. Sirius Black was back on his feet and Peter was now staring wide-eyed from Sirius to Harry. "It takes more than a Crucitarius to put me out of action. You should know that by now."

Harry and Sirius were staring at Peter with literally hatred in their eyes and Pettigrew had started shaking.

"Your freedom hinges on Pettigrew's capture, Sirius. Don't blow your freedom and Harry's chance of a family on a revenge that we all know you will regret later." It was Ginny who was unbelievably calm, collected and composed.

Harry was staring at her with wide-eyes. "You are not supposed to be so calm and composed." He finally said.

"No but considering that the two of you are hell-bent on committing murder, I have no choice." Ginny said with a smile on her face. "Of course if you were being the cool and calm one, I would be standing right next to Sirius." She added impishly.

"I don't doubt that at all." Harry plainly replied knowing full well that she was more than capable of that.

"W—what did you say Gi…what is your name?" Sirius asked in a surprisingly emotional and raspy voice; his wand and attention though were still trained on Pettigrew.

"Ginny, Ginny Weasley." Ginny responded. "And I said what?"

"T—that I am Harry's only chance of a family….."Sirius trailed off.

"Well you are his godfather and besides Professor Lupin you are the only connection to his parents." Ginny replied as if that was the simplest thing in the world. "But that can happen only if Pettigrew is convicted, so let's go up to the castle and have him arrested.

Unless Harry was mistaken there suddenly was a gleam in Sirius' eyes that he hadn't seen so far. That gleam shaved off more than a few years off his face. Harry could almost see the man who was the best man at his parents' wedding. The man who was his father's best-friend and the man who along with his father shaved off more than a couple of years off Professor McGonagall's life.

"Start walking towards the damn-trapdoor, Peter. It's your lucky day." Sirius Black said as he tied Peter's hands together with a spell that was conjuration and then poked the wand at Peter's throat and he had no option but to start walking towards the trap-door. The four entered the trap-door and Harry was surprised to find Crookshanks apparently waiting for them.

"Don't tell me that the cat led you to us." Harry said to Sirius.

"Absolutely." Sirius replied as they started making their way towards the castle in their wand-light. "I don't know how but the cat knew that you were in danger and practically dragged me to the Whomping Willow. I entered it but Peter here was ready for me. The Crucitarius seems to be a new addition to his arsenal. He was torturing me for about a minute or two when you got up." Sirius paused at that. "How did you get up anyways? The stunners are supposed to last for at least a couple of hours."

"Trade-secret." Was Harry's only reply. Twenty minutes later they had reached the exit leading up the Whomping Willow.

"One false move, Peter and I swear that I will blow your head off." Sirius warned as he pushed Peter up the exit after Ginny had already made her way through it. A moment later Sirius and then Harry scrambled out of it. The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, they set off. Pettigrew was still wheezing and occasionally whimpering. Silently they made their way towards the castle. The castle-lights were getting larger and larger and then suddenly everything went wrong.

Harry felt the cold and a moment later he realized their grave mistake. The dementors must have sensed Sirius and were now converging on their target. And then Harry saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake towards them. He spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating his insides, fog starting to obscure his vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side; they were encircling them...

Harry could see out of the corner of his eyes that Sirius and Peter clearly were panicky. Sirius was crouched on all his fours with hands over his head. Ginny had a look of determination set on her face and he could also feel her determination. Then suddenly Peter bent forward and picked up Sirius's wand and a moment later a rat was in his place and a moment later he was running off towards the forest. Harry started to run after him but Ginny's words interrupted him.

"_Forget Pettigrew, Harry. We have your godfather to save from over a hundred dementors."_

Harry didn't even have to think over it. Sirius was much more valuable than Peter.

"_Let's do it" _Was all that Ginny said. _"Together, Harry. Together."_

Mustering up all his determination and courage. Harry thought of his happiest memory. The day outside Gringotts and then felt Ginny do the same. They were ready to perform the charm.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry and Ginny yelled out almost as one.

A moment later a silver Jaguar burst out of Harry's wand and a silver Phoenix burst out of Ginny's wand and went after the nearest dementors that were approaching Sirius. All the dementors stopped in their tracks as soon as the two Patroni started going around but it was clear that they were not retreating completely.

"BLOODY DARK CREATURES, WHY CAN"T YOU GO TO HELL?" Harry screamed out before performing the charm again. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Once again the Jaguar burst out of his wand. But unbelievably this time it was not silver but looked and practically felt solid-gold. The Jaguar attacked the nearest dementor and a moment later an unearthly howl filled the air. The golden Patroni wasn't repelling the dementors, it was somehow killing them. A couple of seconds later the golden Jaguar moved on towards a second dementor and once again an unearthly howl filled the air. Harry was sure that someone in the castle was bound to have heard the screams. It seemed that the rest of the dementors weren't too keen to be destroyed as they literally turned tail and started making their way towards the lake and beyond though every couple of seconds the Jaguar did catch a dementor and destroy it. Harry counted at least twelve dementors being destroyed.

"That was interesting." Ginny said as she rushed over to Harry's side and supported him. Harry was suddenly feeling very very weak.

"How did I do that?" Harry asked weakly.

"No idea, Harry." Ginny replied. "But we do have to get Sirius to safety. Someone from the castle will be coming down here for sure."

Sirius was lying a few feet away and in the darkness Harry couldn't tell whether he was conscious or no. Harry and Ginny walked over there to find Sirius staring at him with wide eyes.

"Y—you destroyed dementors and s—saved my life." Sirius literally croaked out. He was looking very weak. "H—how did you do that?"

"Never mind that, Sirius. Pettigrew's escaped and someone from the castle and someone from the ministry are bound to show-up. The minister of Magic is having dinner with Professor Dumbledore today and even though he believes you the minister will not. What are you going to do?" Harry summed up the entire situation.

"I—I need to go then." Sirius said despondently.

"I—I wish you wouldn't have to." Harry said hopefully even though he knew very well that, running off again was the only option. Suddenly they could hear voices from the castle.

"I have to go. But we will meet again." Sirius said. "I promise you."

"Please be careful." Harry said.

"Yeah, don't get caught otherwise I will personally kick your arse." Ginny added and everyone laughed.

"I won't though I think I do need to steal a wand." Sirius said.

"Don't." Ginny said. "Take mine. It isn't mine anyways."

Sirius stared long and hard at Ginny first and then gave Harry a long look before taking the wand that Ginny had offered.

"Make sure that he treats you well, Ginny." Sirius said to Ginny. "And, Harry I really am proud of you and I know that your parents would be proud of you too. I will write to you and I promise that we will meet again." Sirius said and a moment later there a giant black dog in his place that bounded towards the forest.

Harry practically collapsed onto the ground and a moment later Ginny sat down next to him.

"_Any ideas for a cover-story, Gin?" _Harry asked as he saw about six or seven silhouettes in the distance.

"_More than a couple. Don't worry, I have it covered." _Ginny replied.

A couple of minutes later, Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Snape, Minister Fudge and the two bodyguards that Harry had seen before came into view and precisely ten seconds later they were right next to the evidently exhausted couple. It took them a couple of minutes to take in the burning corpse of what was clearly a dementor and then actually ask Harry and Ginny a question.

"What happened here, Harry?" Professor Dumbledore asked while the rest of the Professors and the ministry officials were still looking over the dementor remains.

"Err…do you mind if Ginny answers, because I am feeling really—really tired." Harry replied and Professor Dumbledore mutely nodded.

"_All yours, Gin." _Harry said.

"Well we went to visit Hagrid before dinner. But he wasn't there nor did he turn up for quite sometime and we lost track of time talking. Then we started back when we realized that it was really quite late. But for some bloody—effing….." Ginny was interrupted by Professor McGonagall.

"Miss Weasley please watch your mouth. The Minister of Magic is in attendance." She reprimanded her.

This time Harry spoke up. "Well then I would really like to know as to why in the world did the Ministry controlled dementors attack us. Two students of Hogwarts and ironically I happen to be the person whom they are supposed to be protecting from Black and this is the second time that they have attacked the students."

The three Professors exchanged looks which said quite clearly that they knew that the explanation had been shortened. The minister meanwhile could do nothing but only splutter.

"Anyways, luckily Harry knew the Patronus charm and did it. The first time the dementors simply stopped moving but then when Harry performed it for the second time somehow his Patronus managed to destroy the dementor." Ginny finished the explanation.

This time Professor Dumbledore looked at Fudge and Fudge's spluttering actually multiplied. "The dementors will be removed from the school, I presume Cornelius."

"Of course. Attack innocent children" Fudge continued to splutter. "Harry Potter none the less. It would have been a disaster. Gates-- have the dementors shipped back to Azkaban within the next twelve hours." Fudge said addressing one of his associates. "I must take my leave now, Dumbledore. I am sorry about this but this shall not be repeated. Perhaps we can discuss the security later." 

"Of course. I am always all ears." Professor Dumbledore said as Fudge tipped his hat and then started briskly making his way towards the main-gates. The three Professors watched them move well out of ear-shot and then the three turned towards Harry and Ginny once again.

"Anything that you two might have left out?" Professor Dumbledore asked the two students who were still perched on the ground.

They didn't reply immediately. Even as the excitement of the night had started wearing off now and the adrenalin rush began to subside both of them were starting to feel the after-effects of the evening and especially the after-effects of the Crucitarius curse. Harry realized that his limbs had started shaking a bit and he was becoming a bit light headed.

"Say Snape do you have a potion against that Crucio pain curse because we are both not feeling that well right now." Harry said and the Professors clearly looked taken aback and Professor McGonagall looked quite sick. Snape exchanged a few words with Professor Dumbledore that Harry couldn't hear and then immediately set off towards the castle

"Harry and Miss Weasley, do you think that you can walk back to castle?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"_Nope, Gin." _Harry responded mentally. _"How about Hagrid's hut?"_

"Hagrid's Hut, please." Ginny said as she got up and started pulling Harry up too. A few seconds of effort later with Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore extending their hands to pull him up, Harry was up on his feet and started walking albeit rather slowly towards Hagrid's hut. Five minutes of slow progress later they entered Hagrid's hut and Harry practically collapsed onto the Hagrid-sized chair near the door. Professor Dumbledore closed the door and then did a complex looking spell on it and then conjured a comfortable-looking purple chair out of thin air and then sat down onto it.

"Nice chair, Sir." Harry remarked.

Professor Dumbledore laughed before replying. "I always look after the comforts of my back. After-all at 157-years old, physically I am not what I used to be."

Professor McGonagall was searching through the cabinets on Hagrid's wall and Harry had a feeling that she was probably going to make tea.

"_Of course she is." _Ginny was obviously following Harry's thoughts. _"All English women think that to be the best recourse when something is not right. Mum does it all the time."_

"_But isn't Professor McGonagall Scottish?"_

"_Same difference."_

"Third shelf in the right-most cabinet." Harry said. "And the tea-leaves would be on the shelf below the kettle."

"I take it you come here a lot." Professor Dumbledore remarked as Professor McGonagall found the kettle and the tea-leaves exactly where Harry had told her.

"We do but it's not because of that." Ginny began explaining. "Hermione arranged those cabinets for Hagrid once because she didn't want to eat the rock-cakes that Hagrid cooks and now everytime he offers them she gets up and starts arranging them again." There was silence after that for a few minutes and the only sound that could be heard was that of the kettle on the stove. A few minutes later Snape returned with a few vials of potions in his hands and immediately held them out to Harry.

"Drink, all of them Potter." He ordered. "These are for you Weasley, she said handing over similar looking vials to Ginny.

The slimy potion in the vials didn't look inviting at all, but Harry silently gulped them down one by one. About a minute later the light-headedness and the dizziness disappeared and his limbs stopped shaking too. He felt his tiredness decrease a bit too though he could almost feel that it was artificial. He supposed that the last one was a Pepper-up Potion. A few minutes later, Harry was feeling much better and so was Ginny but since she hadn't been subjected to the Crucitarius she was originally in a much better state.

"_Well tell the story, Potter." _Ginny said as Harry looked up to see all the three Professors looking up at him expectantly.

"We found Peter Pettigrew and then obviously lost him." Harry simply said and the three Professors went wide-eyed. "Well we were searching for him for quite sometime and today when we were returning from the kitchens we realized that he was inside Hagrid's hut. So we….." Harry was interrupted by Snape.

"How were you searching for him, Potter?" Snape asked.

"We have our means and don't ask me what they are because I can't tell you and the only other person who can is currently on the run again." Harry replied. "And I can assure you that it is nothing illegal or something."

"_Straight-forward lie, Harry?"_ Ginny asked.

"_Well can you see, Snape allowing us to keep the Map?" _Harry asked her.

"Very well, Harry. Please continue." Professor Dumbledore said though Snape and Professor McGonagall clearly looked like they wanted to know what it was all about.

"Well we entered Hagrid's hut but I made the cardinal mistake of assuming that Pettigrew would be unarmed." Harry began again. "He wasn't and the moment I entered he used that Crucio curse on us and hell it was painful. I don't remember much but I think that I fell backwards and onto Ginny so she couldn't do much either. Then he stunned us and the next thing I remember is waking up in the Shrieking Shack."

"How were you awakened so quickly, Potter?" Snape interrupted again. "Stunners are supposed to last for at least a couple of hours."

"I suppose in the same manner, Madame Pomfrey's diagnosis of me is wrong every single time." Harry simply replied.

"Anyways I woke up and realized that Pettigrew was torturing Sirius. Crookshanks, Hermione's cat had somehow seen us being taken into the Whomping Willow and then warned Sirius to follow us there. Unfortunately he too rushed in when he saw us lying on the floor, allowing Pettigrew to overpower him. I woke up and then disarmed Pettigrew. Then Sirius woke up Ginny and we started making our way through the tunnel and back towards the school with Pettigrew captured. We made another mistake though. The moment Sirius stepped onto the grounds in his human form; the dementors must have sensed it so they came onto the grounds only they decided to attack us too. Ginny and I did the Patronus and drove away the dementors, but in the entire mess, Pettigrew managed to grab a wand and transform into a rat and run away. And then we decided that it would be best if Sirius ran away again and he said that he would send a letter once he was safely in the place where he is supposed to hide." Harry finished the explanation to a pretty much stunned audience.

"Why did my Patroni kill the dementor?" Harry asked after a couple of minutes. "And why was it golden?"

""I am afraid that I have to answer to that." Professor Dumbledore replied. "I am yet to find out why and how you could conjure up multiple Patroni. Please give me some time perhaps I might find some answers in the summer vacation."

"So, Sirius Black is an Animagus too?" Professor Dumbledore asked after a moment.

"All the Marauders except Professor Lupin were." Harry replied. "My father was a stag and I am not going to tell Sirius' form in front of Sna—Professor Snape. You might trust him, I don't." Harry answered the unasked question that was sure to follow.

"Sweet Merlin!" It was Professor McGonagall. Harry and Ginny almost died of shock at the sound of Professor McGonagall cursing. "Animagi even before they left school."

"Actually, that would be before they even appeared for their OWLS." Ginny added.

"It isn't that surprising." Professor McGonagall said after a moment. "Potter and Black were exceptional students. The only reason they never topped their classes was because they spent too much time pranking and….."

"Shaving off years from your life." Harry added making Professor Dumbledore laugh and Snape sneer. Harry had a feeling that Snape would have been at the receiving end of more than a few pranks from the Marauders.

"Very well, Harry. Though please do me a favour. If Sirius writes to you and you write back kindly ask him to write to me as well. I believe that I owe him quite a few apologies and explanations." Professor Dumbledore said and Harry simply nodded at that.

Harry woke up rather late the following day and he woke up in the Hospital Wing. It took him a few moments to remember why Professor Dumbledore had insisted on him spending the night at the Hospital Wing. It seemed that the story of dementors attacking him and Ginny had spread like wild-fire through the school and even through the Ministry. The dementors were gone from Hogwarts before sunrise. Harry looked around to see that the twins, Ron and Hermione were sitting around their bed waiting expectantly for the 'complete' story.

"Ah, Harrikins nice to see that you are up and everything seems to be in order." The twins greeted him. Ginny was already up but the look on her face wasn't pleasant.

"_What happened, Gin?" _Harry asked.

"_Remember Fudge being here?" _She asked and Harry mentally nodded. _"Well he was here to fire Professor Lupin."_

"_WHAT? They can't do that."_

"_Apparently they can. Professor Lupin is packing even as we speak."_

Harry was up in a second and searching for his clothes and shoes.

"What are you doing, mate?" Ron asked.

"I want to talk to Professor Lupin. They can't fire him." Harry said absentmindedly and then realized his mistake.

"How do you know about that?" Hermione asked. Sharp as ever.

"_Fudge told you." _Came Ginny's reply. She really was good at making up stories.

"Fudge told me last evening after the dementor incident." Harry replied as he pulled on his robes. The map was still in the pocket and so was the invisibility coat. "Ginny can tell you the full story. I need to talk to Professor Lupin." Harry said as he literally burst out of the Hospital Wing.

A few minutes later he found himself outside the door of Professor Lupin's office and without much prelude he practically the doors and entered the office. Professor Lupin looked up from his desk where he was packing a few books and parchment into his trunk.

"You CAN'T go." Harry began. "So what if you are a werewolf. It doesn't matter. You are not a werewolf by choice. And besides with the Wolfsbane you are not even a real werewolf on the full moon. The ministry had no right to dismiss you. You have to fight this dismissal. You should get a lawyer and take the ministry to court for discrimination. This is NOT FAIR. It is ATROCIOUS and APPALLING. Besides you were the best Professor we ever had. Even Fred and George agree to that. If you go now, you will be abandoning your students. YOU CANNOT GO." Harry finished in the loudest voice that he could muster.

"_I think that the entire castle heard the last statement, Harry." _Came Ginny's voice across the link.

Harry ignored her for the time being and noticed that Professor Lupin was giving him a tired smile more than anything else. That irritated Harry.

"What are you smiling for?" Harry asked the irritation seeping into his voice. "You should be indignant. Not giving a smile."

Professor didn't reply but crossed Harry and closed the door behind him.

"By now everyone in the ministry would know that Dumbledore hired a werewolf to teach their children." Professor Lupin calmly replied. "By this time tomorrow, there would be hundreds of owls asking for my head and some even for Professor Dumbledore's head for doing something that went so much against the norms of our world. I have to go. Professor Dumbledore's position might be in danger because of me and I can never allow that to happen. I owe way too much to Professor Dumbledore."

"You're the best Defense against the Dark Arts- teacher we've ever had!" said Harry. "Don't go!"

Lupin shook his head and didn't speak. He carried on emptying his drawers. Then, while Harry was trying to think of a good argument to make him stay, Lupin said, "I heard that Peter tortured you and Miss Weasley last night." There was an edge to his voice that Harry had never heard before. Harry had a feeling that the next time Pettigrew came across Professor Lupin, Pettigrew would not come alive out of that meeting.

"Yeah." Harry said. "But it all was for nothing. I mean after managing to catch Peter we forgot about the dementors and if we hadn't then……." Harry left that hanging.

"Don't blame yourself, Harry." Professor Lupin began. "Sirius might not be officially condoned but believe me he will sleep peacefully knowing that you fully believe that he is innocent. You saved him from a terrible fate. He wouldn't want you to keep on contemplating on what would have been. Enjoy your days at Hogwarts because I know that Sirius no matter where he is would be enjoying albeit in an unconventional manner but he will be."

Harry nodded knowing fully well that as a dog Sirius was literally going to have a dog's life no matter what anybody said. And then suddenly he realized that he had the map and Professor Lupin didn't know about it.

"Here's a gift for you." Harry said putting his hand into his pockets. "Well not an actual gift because I would like to have it back but I think that you would like to know that it is being used." Harry finished and handed over the Marauder's Map to Professor Lupin.

It took a moment for the significance of the parchment to sink in and then Professor Lupin's eyes literally bulged out.

"H—how did you find it?" He finally asked.

"Don't ask any questions and I won't tell you any lies. Though I can tell you that the twins 'found' it in someone's office a couple of years back." Harry said as Professor Lupin continued to handle the map as if it was a small child.

"I hope you have been using it well." Not Professor Lupin but 'Moony' asked with a feral grin.

"You have no idea." Harry candidly replied.

Remus Lupin held the map in his for a few more minutes before handing it out to Harry again. "As a responsible guardian, I shouldn't be saying this but I can say with some confidence that your father would have been quite disappointed if you hadn't found out any of the secret tunnels that led out of the castle. Your mother on the other hand would have probably blown a few gaskets and killed your father and Sirius for encouraging you."

"Do you think, topping the History of Magic class would have cancelled that out?" Harry asked with a grin.

Remus Lupin smiled before replying. "I meant to ask you that. How in Merlin's name do you manage to do that? The only person who ever took notes in Binns' class was your mother and she never received that kind of high grades either."

Harry smiled. "I am not answering that one though I can assure you that I do not take any notes either."

They were both silent for a moment as Professor Lupin continued packing his trunk and a few minutes later he had finished and then extended his hand to Harry.

"It had been a pleasure meeting you and teaching you, Harry. You are so much more than what I expected you would be. We will meet again I am sure." Remus Lupin said as the two shook each others hands. Then with a final nod of the head Remus Lupin headed out of his office with his trunk trailing behind him.

Nobody at Hogwarts knew what really happened the evening when Harry and Ginny were attacked by the dementors. Nobody except the 'usual' six and the three Professors that is. Most of the students only knew that over a hundred dementors had attacked Harry and he had managed to fight them all off. A lot of students were now staring at Harry with a kind of reverence that was reserved for Professor Dumbledore. As the twins put it, warding away over a hundred dementors was no mean feat. Harry had fully expected somebody from the Ministry to come and investigate about the 'destroyed' dementors, but nobody turned up. Hermione explained that the ministry was probably afraid that Harry would sue them. After-all the dementors had attacked him 'apparently' without provocation twice and in the hundreds too.

He certainly wasn't the only one who was sorry to see Professor Lupin go. The whole of Harry's Defense against the Dark Arts class was miserable about his resignation.

"Wonder what they'll give us next year?" said Seamus Finnigan gloomily.

"Maybe a vampire," suggested Dean Thomas hopefully.

The exam results were declared on the last day of the term and Harry had managed to top Defense against the Dark Arts, Care of magical Creatures and once again Potions. Ron had topped History of Magic once again while Hermione had managed to top the rest of the classes. Percy had received top NEWTs which would guarantee him a place at the Ministry. Harry supposed that the rift among the Weasley siblings had tempered down when Ron and Ginny congratulated Percy but he was mistaken as 'Congratulations' was the only word that both of them spoke. The twins were still refusing to speak to Percy.

The End of the Term feast was simply a blast as once again the cuisine at the Gryffindor Table was custom-made while it was the 'normal' feast-food at the other tables. They also had butter-beer instead of Pumpkin juice which put out the rest of the houses. Gryffindor of course had lost the House Cup quite spectacularly. Eventually it had been calculated that Gryffindor was 1025-points below zero. Harry was sure that that was one record that was never going to be broken. Slytherin won but the roar from Gryffindor at the declaration of their last place had been much louder than the Slytherin roar.

It was during the train-ride the next day that Hermione answered the mystery of how she was attending more than a class at a time. She was using a time-turner. She had however decided to give up the time-turner and have a normal schedule the following year. Ron was rather miffed that she hadn't shared that secret with them which meant that the two had another of their argument.

It was halfway through the train-ride that Harry received a letter from Sirius. It didn't say much but the fact that he was in hiding and he was rather confident that he was very safe. Sirius had also gifted the owl that he sent the letter with to Ron as he didn't have Scabbers anymore. It was a tiny excitable owl but Ron was clearly happy that he had a pet that he could call his own. Harry hated going to the Dursleys for the summer but the silver lining was that Ron's father would get tickets for the Quidditch World Cup and Harry would be able to visit them then.

Harry read and reread the letter from Sirius all the way back into King's Cross station. It was still clutched tightly in his hand as he, Ron, and Hermione stepped back through the barrier of platform nine and a three-quarters. Harry spotted Uncle Vernon at once. He was standing a good distance from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, eyeing them suspiciously, and when Mrs. Weasley hugged Harry in greeting, his worst suspicions about them seemed confirmed.

"Thank you for saving, Ginny once again from the dementors dear." Mrs. Weasley said as she hugged Harry again.

"_She doesn't know the truth does she?" _Harry asked.

"_No. Only that you saved me once again from the dementors."_

"Err…actually Mrs. Weasley she know the Patronus charm too. We helped each other actually." Harry said and Mrs. Weasley seemed quite surprised.

"B—but the letter from the Ministry said….." She began but Harry interrupted her.

"Naah, she knows the Patronus charm all-right. Her form is a Phoenix. A brilliant silver phoenix. We helped each other." Harry said.

"But who taught you two this Patronus charm?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"_The Room of Requirement wouldn't be such a good answer would it be?" _Harry asked Ginny.

"Harry learnt it himself and then he taught it to me." Ginny decided to cut in and Harry felt himself go red.

"Oh that is so sweet, ickle Harrikins the hero of Hogwarts can't even handle praise." The twins had arrived and Harry was glad for that. After another hug from Mrs. Weasley and after he a small peck on the cheeks from Ginny he set off towards his annual trip to torture-camp.

**A/N:** Well that's the end of year three. I know that Sirius isn't free but the story needs him to be on the run. Though I promise you that he does not die at end of year-5. Thank to all my reviewers and all those who have added the story to their favorites' list and their communities. Thank you all.


	23. The Quidditch World Cup

Harry groaned as Uncle Vernon's car hit another bump on the road. He was seated in the back with Dudley who seemed to have grown twice his size in ten months and that meant that there was hardly any space in the back seat for him. The first part of the drive had been rather fun for Harry as he had explained to uncle Vernon and aunt Petunia all about his godfather who happened to be a mass-murderer and on the loose and very concerned about Harry's welfare. But an hour into the drive the novelty of uncle Vernon's nervous and anxious glances at him had worn off and he was just hoping to reach number four and crash into his bedroom. And he also wished that he had a bit more space in the car. Dudley had grown really fat.

"_Oi there are four of you in the car." _Came Ginny's voice. _"And we are seven of us in this much smaller car."_

"_Yeah, except for the fact that your car is magically expanded for extra-space." _Harry retorted.

"_Well, what's stopping you from doing that?"_ Pat came Ginny's reply.

"_Something known as the Statue of Secrecy and Underage Magic Laws." _Harry replied. _"And the fact that I don't know how to do that."_

"_It seems that all that dementor-fighting is getting you slow in the mind." _Ginny said. _"We are adults, remember? Only the Statue of Secrecy applies to us. Nothing else."_

"_What! You are kidding me?" _Harry replied hoping that she was right.

"_No, I am not." _She said. _"Why don't you try it?" _She asked impishly.

"_No thanks. I have a couple of warnings already. Why don't you try it and then tell me?" _Harry said.

"_Yeah, I guess that would make more sense." _Ginny said. _"But if I get a warning and mum grounds me due to it, you are going to do half the work."_

"_Done." _Harry promised. _"So any news about Sirius that is in the public domain?"_

"_Nope, but your two skirmishes with the dementors have been rather popular in the Ministry it seems." _Ginny said.

"_Our skirmishes, dear Gin. Our skirmishes." _Harry corrected her.

"_Well, I am just the daughter of a lowly minister employee while you are well 'you'. So obviously you had the skirmishes and I was the innocent victim." _Ginny explained.

"_Innocent my foot." _Harry replied. _"By the way, any chance that you guys might patch-up with Percy?" _Harry asked and then almost instantaneously felt a spike of irritation from Ginny.

"_It's safe to say that none of us are ever talking with Percy again." _Ginny replied.

"_Now what could have he possibly done within two hours?" _Harry asked.

"_As usual you came-up in the discussion and Percy was rather vocal against you learning the Patronus charm." _Ginny replied. _"Apparently it is a ministry controlled spell or something and you need permission from the ministry to learn it. Turns out we were breaking laws to save our lives."_

"_Is he completely daft or something?" _Harry asked frankly feeling a bit sad for Percy. _"You need to explain to him that the Patronus is not a dark-spell or something. He…" _

"_Forget it Harry. He's gone completely offline now. Even mum scolded him a bit. But since she is the mother a moment later she was happily listening to his big plans at the Ministry." _

"_Haven't your parents realized that the four of you haven't spoken with Percy since last summer? I mean you were together at Christmas last year and yet you didn't say a word according to you. Haven't they noticed anything amiss?" _Harry asked.

"_Mum hasn't and as long as we are not actually fighting she wouldn't notice either. I am sure dad has and probably will say something once Bill and Charlie come over for the Quidditch World Cup. Oh and the twins and Ron still feel that England would have a much better chance at the World Cup if you sign on." _Ginny added.

"_Oh god I can't believe that Wood has managed to brainwash everyone in Gryffindor so completely." _Harry replied a bit irritably. _"I am not that good and I am surely not National team material." _Harry insisted.

"_Yeah, sure." _Ginny mocked him. _"And it is not Gryffindor but the entire school, including some honest Slytherins. For Merlin's sake the last time you were hit by a 'neutral' bludger was back in your first year and only because Wood decided to start practicing with three bludgers. Then in the second year you managed to avoid a mad bludger for over four hours. You are yet to lose a single match. Your 'Wronksi Feint' is top-notch. You fly better than you walk and for heavens sake you manage to enter the castle on a broom from a 4x4 feet window. What is not there for you to be in the National team Potter?"_

"_I am only thirteen, Ginny. I don't see my self doing that just now. Four years on if I am still good and if I can get in as Harry Potter not some Boy-who-lived I swear to you, I will grab the opportunity with both hands."_

"_Good, because I am going to tell the three just that." _Ginny said and Harry groaned as he heard Ginny fabricate a story about he discussing the National Team option with her and she ended it with the very same words that he had just said.

"_You are going to be in trouble Potter, if you don't keep up that promise." _Ginny said the glee evident in her voice. _"I can already hear the twins planning about writing to Wood about your 'future' plans."_

"_I am going to get you one of these days, Weasley. Anyways gotta go. Number 4, is here already." _Harry said as he rather happily jumped out of the car.

"_See you, Harry." _Ginny said and Harry then felt her concentrating on the twins' discussion about Quidditch where the word 'Harry' was being mentioned one time too many. Groaning, Harry got his trunk out of the boot of the car and started dragging it up to his bedroom.

Harry decided to forgo dinner that night and instead ate a Chocolate Frog and was asleep before his head hit the pillow. The following day he woke up early in the morning and decided that he might as well start his jog from the first day itself. He pulled on some shorts and put on his sneakers and went off for his jog. He jogged all the way till the park and then decided to sit for a few minutes on the bench. It was the same bench where he had fallen asleep a couple of years ago after Dobby had made him receive the warning.

He got up and started walking back towards Number 4. So far he hadn't been given any chores but he knew that the moment he entered it again, he would be saddled with innumerable chores. As he was walking towards the exit of the park he noticed a few men, well probably boys who were four or five years older than him practicing what looked like kickboxing.

One boy was wearing what looked like padded mittens, only they didn't have any fingers and were flat. The other boy was alternatively and rather quickly punching and kicking those flat-padded mittens. Harry found it to be fascinating. It was not like conventional boxing obviously because they were kicking too but the guy doing the punching and the kicking didn't look all that muscular and beefy. It was swift and quick and you obviously needed to be fleet-footed. He kept on watching literally mesmerized. It was something that he could do. Could perhaps be good at. His musings were disturbed when one of the youths call out to him.

"Hey, lad?" The one who was wearing the flat-gloves called out. "You seem to be interested. Come over here." He called out so Harry walked over.

"Err…hi my name is Harry, Harry Potter." Harry said as he reached there.

"This is Ken Adams and I am Chris Collins." The man introduced himself and the guy who was doing the kicking and punching. "So it looked like you were rather interested in 'Savate'?"

"Err…what?" Harry asked a bit confused. "I thought it was kick-boxing or something."

"It is." Chris Collins said. "Only, the style is French and hence it is called 'Savate'. It is considered as the French Martial Art actually." He explained.

"Oh." Harry replied.

"So lad, are you interested in learning it?" Chris Collins asked.

"Err…I am barely 14. Isn't it too young to be learning boxing?" Harry asked a bit confused.

"No, not really." Chris replied. "Of course you are a bit young to be doing any kind of body-building and heavy muscle development but certainly not young to be learning boxing. Hell, if you were in Thailand you would already be boxing to earn a living."

"Oh." Harry replied 'eloquently' again. "B—But I don't have too much money or anything."

"Naah, don't worry about it. Our association would pay the gloves and shoes. We don't get too many youngsters anyways." Chris replied. "So what do you think?"

"Err…okay but are you sure?" Harry asked and he noticed the two exchange a look and Ken Adams spoke up for the first time.

"We aren't sure right now but I can rectify that." He said and simply lunged his gloved right fist towards Harry. Harry was surprised but for barely a few milliseconds. With super reflexes honed over three years of Quidditch training he jumped out of the punch's way only to realize a moment later that a kick was coming straight at him. He tried jumping out of the way again but only managed to do so partially and the kick did brush his abdomen.

"Those were some pretty good reflexes, Harry." Ken complimented him.

"Yeah, welcome aboard." Chris said extending his hands.

"Thanks." Harry said as he shook hands with both of them.

And just like that Harry started spending three to four hours every-morning training with the Surrey division of National Savate Association. Harry was quite surprised that they actually had divisions and stuff but Chris explained that there actually were only three divisions. Surrey, Yorkshire and Norfolk. The Surrey one which was based in Greater Whining was actually the Head Office. They had one in London at some point of time but had to give it up for lack of sufficient funds.

Harry had taken a few poundings in his life but nothing could really prepare him for the kind of pounding and literally hammering that he received from Chris and Ken at the beginning. Harry always thought that he had excellent reflex but one day with them and he realized that to move out the way of a punch on your own power rather than a broom required really swift reflexes. After being battered for a couple of days however he had started improving. Chris had also taught him the basic punches and kicks. Of course as he was quite young to actually start building up muscle the power in his punches and kicks was limited but as Chris pointed out you need to be quick to make contact rather than powerful. Otherwise the power is simply wasted when your opponent blocks you or moves out of the way. Harry was sure that his reflexes which already were quite good had improved considerably over the time he was practicing Savate.

The Dursleys weren't particularly happy when Harry told them that he would be gone for four hours in the morning and that too learn 'fighting' but one mention of Sirius had been enough to make them shut-up. Of course Harry had a feeling that when Harry returned the first day a bit bruised the Dursleys were quite ecstatic about it. They had their revenge on Harry though when Aunt Petunia had announced that they would be having only organic, fat-free food from now onwards as Dudley had been put on a diet by the school-nurse. That meant that Harry was spending more and more of his money on eating at the Deli just outside Little Whining but at least he wasn't sleeping on an empty stomach.

The one person completely pissed off at Harry was Ginny. His early morning 'lessons' meant that she could never ever manage to sleep properly. So for the first time ever in history, Ginny was waking up at 7:00am in the morning and walking around the burrow irritated through breakfast until lunch.

The only thing that had troubled Harry was that his scar was twinging a couple of nights. It had made him panic whether Voldemort had suddenly turned up at Number four but then Ginny squashed that panic explaining as to how Voldemort didn't even have a body yet. He had casually mentioned about it in his letter to Sirius but he wasn't troubled too much by it. Sirius had sent him a couple of letters over the past month which had been delivered by large colourful birds. The birds which you generally associated with the tropics. That made Harry believe that just as Professor Lupin had predicted Sirius was probably enjoying himself, well enjoying a bit at least.

The Quidditch World Cup had started and England had bowed out rather shamefully which had led to a tremendous argument among the Weasleys. Apparently the twins were whining about how England's chances would have been much better had Harry agreed to sign on. Mrs. Weasley had heard that and given them a pasting about forcing and pressuring him to do 'big' things when he still was a small child.

Harry had spent well over a month at Number four and he had began to wonder if Professor Dumbledore was ever going to give the go-ahead for him too leave number four and visit the Burrow. Of course once he went over to the Burrow that would mean the Savate-lessons would stop but he missed Ginny and Ron and hell even the twins a lot more. Finally with about two and a half weeks until he had to return to Hogwarts Ginny sought him out rather agitatedly.

"_Harry! How many stamps are needed on a muggle-letter?" _She asked.

"_What?" _Harry asked confusedly.

"_Answer the question Potter and quickly." _Ginny ordered.

"_To whom are you sending the letter and from where?" _Harry asked.

"_Well it seems that Professor Dumbledore finally gave the go-ahead and we would be there to get you out in about two days. Just mum wants to do it properly and wants to ask permission from your guardians and all. Only she wants to put about twenty stamps on the envelope just to make sure." _Ginny explained.

"_Four or Five would be more than enough." _Harry said and then heard as Ginny told her mother about it._ "She doesn't need to do that, you know. I am sure that Sirius wouldn't mind it and neither would the Dursleys. They would be rather happy to get me out of their sights."_ Harry replied.

"_Yeah sure, Harry. I will tell mum that your godfather who is a convicted mass-murderer and on the loose and a person for whom the entire auror department is searching and whom we have met and helped escape from the dementors wouldn't mind you coming over." _She finished mockingly.

"_Yeah—yeah okay." _Harry replied. _"When are you guys coming to get me and how?"_

"_On Saturday and I think dad is going to have your fireplace connected temporarily to the floo." _Ginny replied.

"_Okay." _Harry replied. _"But no, the fireplace is boarded up. You guys would have to break it to enter."_

"_So?" _Ginny asked impishly.

"_The show will be worth watching." _Harry simply replied after a moment.

On Saturday afternoon Harry was waiting for the Weasleys to show-up. The Dursleys had raised no objections about Harry going and were only too happy to let him go. Chris and Ken were quite disappointed too but Harry had told them at the beginning itself that he would only be for the duration of the summer as he attended boarding school up in Scotland. They had however provided him with tons of manuals to practice on his own. But without a real sparring partner he knew that he would find it difficult. The Dursleys meanwhile were waiting for the Weasleys all literally decked-up and in their best clothes. Aunt Petunia had cleaned the drawing-room at least twice. Harry could hardly wait for the Weasleys to arrive. They were supposed to be there at five but had held up as the floo-connection hadn't come through.

"_The connection's come through, Harry. Expect the twins and Ron any moment now." _Ginny said and Harry's face spilt into a broad smile.

"AAAAAAAARRRRRGH!" A moment later Harry heard Dudley scream from the living room. With a broad smile on his face, Harry entered the living room knowing that the Weasleys had arrived.

It probably was the best time that Harry ever had at Number 4, Privet Drive. He couldn't decide what the best part of the entire episode was. Though he supposed that Mr. Weasley demolishing half of their living room was very high on the list. Mr. Weasley standing up for him when the Dursleys refused to even bid him goodbye really made his heart warm and the look on Aunt Petunia's face as Mr. Weasley cleaned all the mess up within a few seconds instead of the hours that she spent doing it was worth all the gold in his vault.

"All-right Harry, time for you to go." Mr. Weasley said as he prepared himself to attach the electric-fire.

Harry waved to the Dursleys again and threw the powder into the fire and stepped into it. "THE BURROW." He said clearly and loudly and a swirl of flames later he found himself falling over the grate and onto the floor of the Burrow.

"_Will you ever stop falling while flooing?" _Ginny asked with the laughter evident in her tone.

Harry groaned loudly even as he heard laughter around the kitchen and he felt somebody pull him up.

"So the slayer of basilisk and the Snape-tamer and the fighter of dementors and the liberator of the innocent can't even get out of the grate without falling over." The twins were at it already.

"Yeah—yeah sure. He still isn't fr…." Harry began but was interrupted by Ginny.

"_STOP, Harry." _She screamed out over the link. _"Bill and Charlie are here too."_

"Err…nothing." Harry finished uncomfortably as Ginny came towards him and gave him a hug.

"_Missed you, Potter." _Ginny said.

"_We talked a minute ago." _Harry sent back.

"_You know what I mean." _Ginny said and then broke the pretty long hug.

"Ow….that so sweet oh brother of mine." Began Fred.

"Yes, of…." George began but Harry decided to break them up.

"Shut-up you two and Dudley almost ate that sweet you dropped Fred." Harry interrupted.

"He didn't eat it?" The twins asked disappointedly.

"Naah, I stopped him. Your father would have got you into a hell a lot of trouble for that." Harry replied.

"You are quite right. These bozos are in enough trouble already." It was Bill. He got up to his feet and shook Harry's hands. Bill was still wearing his hair long and still had that fang in his ear. Charlie was sitting at the table too and Hermione was standing near the door.

"Nice to see you again, Bill." Harry said. "And you too Charlie." He added as he shook hands with Charlie. "Hey, Hermione how are the fourth year studies coming along?"

"I—I;" She spluttered. "You beat me in Defense and Potions again." She exclaimed defensively and the kitchen burst into laughter again.

"So still fighting off dark creatures, Harry?" Bill asked as he sat back onto the kitchen table.

"Err…sort of." Harry replied uncomfortably. He didn't want to lie to Bill. The dementors did after-all have more than a legitimate reason to come after them. Sirius was after-all with them.

"Not fighting off Bill, killing them." The twins jumped in probably recognizing Harry's discomfort.

"And you boys are going to be in trouble." Mr. Weasley had apparated back into the Burrow. "It was good fortune that Harry spotted him trying to eat the sweet and stopped the boy from doing it. Had he eaten it you would have broken dozens of laws not to mention it would count as muggle-baiting. I didn't expect…."

"Didn't expect what from whom, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley interrupted as she entered the kitchen and then spotted Harry. "Ah, Harry dear. Welcome back." She said as she came towards him and gave him a hug. "Now Arthur who did what?"

"Err...that would me." Harry spoke up surprising himself and everyone else around him. "Err…I—I didn't say goodbye to—to Dudley instead said something…err…I said that I would curse him once I could do it legally." Harry finished and found everyone staring at him.

"_You will never pass the Weasley-lie test, Potter. Never." _Ginny said in an amused tone.

"You are a very sweet boy, Harry but not a very good liar." Mrs. Weasley spoke up almost instantly. "Besides you would never do something illegal. AND ARTHUR I am STILL waiting for an answer." She finished on a firm note.

"_Nothing illegal and a sweet boy." _Came Ginny's voice. _"I wonder what she will say when she learns that you married her youngest daughter at the age of 12._

"_I am sure that I can convince her that her 11-year old daughter who had a crush on me connived me into marrying her. I bet she will accept that in it's entirety." _Harry shot back and for the first time Ginny couldn't find a retort. _"Hahah! I got you Miss Weasley." _Harry said in a sing-song voice.

Meanwhile, Mr. Weasley had told his wife about the twins' attempted prank and she had indeed blown a gasket and was now shouting away her guts at the two of them for a range of reasons beginning from their lack of ambition to their low scores at the OWLS. The last comment Harry thought was entirely unfair as they had both received four owls each and an Outstanding in each of them. Charms, Transfiguration, Potions and History. Peeves had agreed to teach them too and they had taken a real liking for it. Suddenly Harry felt himself being pushed out of the kitchen. Ron was pushing him out and dragging his trunk behind him.

"Let's get out of there, mate." He said as they started climbing the stairs. "She will be going after them for hours. After she is through with the twins she will start with dad for not raising them properly."

They had reached the landing outside Percy's room when he opened the door and poked his head out. "Stop thundering up and down the stairs you all. I am trying to work on a very important report about Cauldron bottom thickness…..." He began and then stopped when he saw Harry. A moment later he turned around and slammed the door.

"You still won't talk to him?" Harry asked Ron even though he already knew the answer.

"No and we are not going to unless he apologizes to you and now Ginny as well." Ron declared. "He was talking about reporting Ginny to the ministry for learning the Patronus. He shut-up only after dad reminded him that as chief of Wizengamot, Professor Dumbledore would be more than aware of laws and as he hasn't taken any action there probably wasn't need for any."

"He should have reported it actually." Hermione spoke up.

"WHAT?" Ron asked as he thumped down the trunk on the landing.

"Well, the dementors are not supposed to attack innocents. If that information had come out in the open. Maybe the ministry might have been pressurized to get rid off them forever." She explained.

"That's twisted." Ginny replied.

"It would have shut him up." Hermione said and everyone looked at her with wide-eyes.

"What?" She exclaimed. "I don't like the way he is behaving either. I like to stick up for rules too. But rules are for people, people are not for rules."

"Didn't Harry tell you that, back in first year?" Ron asked as they finally deposited the trunk at the foot of the camp bed.

"So what?" Hermione shot back. "He was right." Everyone in the room stared at Hermione for a few seconds and then burst into laughter.

"So have you heard from…him?" Ron asked after a minute or so when they had all stopped laughing.

"Yeah, twice. He says that he is safe and sound." Harry simply replied. "By the way does your mother know that the twins are using the books that I gave them for Christmas to make those wheezes?" Harry suddenly asked.

"How do you know about Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes?" Hermione asked not missing anything.

"I wrote to him about it." Ginny replied before Harry blurted out some half-baked unconvincing lie.

"Oh, so Harry did you read up ahead on the portion again in the summer vacation?" Hermione asked enthusiastically.

"Err…." Harry began eloquently again. He didn't think that it would be a good idea to tell her that he and Ginny had practically mastered transfiguration already and he had read Potions all the way through. "No actually, I joined some classes to learn Savate." Harry proclaimed.

"Old shoe?" Hermione asked with raised eye-brows. She obviously had picked up some French during her visit to France last year.

"Oh, I didn't know that it actually meant something." Harry remarked before explaining them all about it.

"Well show us some kicks and punches." Ron encouraged.

"Not now, Ron." Harry said. "I will have to get out all the apparatus and stuff and it is packed all haphazardly in the e trunk. I will show it you tomorrow. I promise."

"Tomorrow's the game, Harry." Ron reminded him.

"Err…isn't it late in the afternoon or something?" Harry asked.

"It is but we have to start at the crack of dawn for some reason." Ginny explained.

"Anyways, I think that they have stopped arguing now. We should go down and help in setting up the table." Hermione said and they all descended down the stairs to help with the table.

They went down only to find Mrs. Weasley in a right state. She was still fuming at the twins and continuously muttering about them. She was cooking at quite a furious pace though and Harry was practically impressed by it. Eventually they all grabbed a few plates and pieces of cutlery and set off into the garden to set the tables. The tables meanwhile were however hovering in the air and Bill and Charlie were sparring with it. Percy once again stuck his head out to oppose the noise and the two older brothers stopped the sparring match but only after Charlie had won.

By seven o'clock, the two tables were groaning under dishes and dishes of Mrs.

Weasley's excellent cooking, and the nine Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione were settling themselves down to eat beneath a clear, deep-blue sky. To somebody who had been living on meals of the not exactly exquisite deli for the entire summer, this was paradise, and at first, Harry listened rather than talked as he helped himself to chicken and ham pie, boiled potatoes, and salad.

At the far end of the table, Percy was telling his father all about his report on cauldron bottoms.

"I have told, Mr. Cr….." He began but was almost instantly interrupted by the twins.

"Now—now Pearce please talk about something else rather than your job and your boss." They said and Harry's head shot up. He thought that they weren't talking with him at all and the conversation hardly merited their attention. He also noticed a bit of nervousness from Ginny. In fact even Ron, Hermione and even the twins were actually looking a bit nervous while joking which was clearly quite artificial.

"Why?" Percy asked rather pompously. "What is wrong with talking about my job and Mr. Cr…."

"Whoa—whoa there, Percy. Please don't mention your job and your boss at the dinner table." It was Ron this time and now everyone else at the table was paying attention to the exchange which Harry supposed were the first words exchanged between the siblings in over a year.

"_What is going on, Ginny?" _Harry asked mentally and he could almost feel Ginny's nervousness.

"_You don't want to know, Harry trust me please." _She replied.

"_What don't I want to know?" _He asked but before she could answer Percy answered it himself.

"Do you all have a problem with me talking about Mr. Crouch and my job?" He asked pompously and then Harry suddenly realized why the twins and Ron were trying to stop Percy from speaking out his boss' name.

"Mr. Crouch as in Bartemius Crouch?" Harry asked and Percy looked taken aback the question and the tone in which Harry had asked it. The older Weasleys, Bill and Charlie were all looking confusedly at the exchange as they couldn't fathom why the name of Percy's boss had such an effect on the six.

"Yes, the very man himself." Percy replied pompously. "He is the head of my department. Depart for International Magical Co-operation. But why are you so interested in him, Mr. Potter? In fact it is almost as if you seem to have a grouse against him." Percy asked.

"_Be bloody-careful, Harry." _Ginny warned.

"No—no not all. Just that I thought that he was the head of the Magical Law Enforcement department." Harry tried to soothe over matters.

"Yes, I believe he formerly was. During the campaign against You-know-who, he headed the Magical Law Enforcement Department quite proficiently and successfully. In fact I believe that he was in line to be the Minister of Magic but he graciously stepped aside as his health wasn't top-notch. Of course if an occasion arises now he would be a sure shot candidate for the minister-ship."

"Oh." Harry replied. "He seems to have quite an illustrious career."

"Yes he does, Mr. Potter" Percy replied. "I hope to emulate him."

"Oh." Harry replied again and turned back to his dinner. The conversation began again and Percy continued to talk about work though only this time he was comparing Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch and some witch who seemed to have disappeared and honestly Harry was really getting bored of it.

"Oh Bertha's _hopeless_, all right," said Percy. "I hear she's been shunted from department to department for years, much more trouble than she's worth ... but all the same, Bagman ought to be trying to find her. Mr. Crouch has been taking a personal interest, she worked in our department at one time, you know, and I think Mr. Crouch was quite fond of her — but Bagman just keeps laughing and saying she probably misread the map and ended up in Australia instead of Albania. However" — Percy heaved an impressive sigh and took a deep swig of elderflower wine — "we've got quite enough on our plates at the Department of International Magical Cooperation without trying to find members of other departments too. As you know, we've got another big event to organize right after the World Cup."

Percy cleared his throat significantly and looked down toward the end of the table where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting. "_You _know the one I'm talking about, Father." He raised his voice slightly. "The top-secret one."

"_Oh Merlin." _Ginny exclaimed. _"He's been trying to get us to ask about it for the entire summer."_

"_Want to shut him up for good, Gin?" _Harry asked as he realized exactly what he was talking about.

"_I thought you would never ask." _Ginny replied and then leaned over to the twins and asked them to follow Harry's lead.

"Oh." Harry began a bit loudly than necessary. "You mean the TriWizard tournament?" He asked and then immediately stuffed his mouth with potatoes.

Percy dropped the goblet that he was holding and spat out the wine all over Charlie. Even Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were looking taken aback at that while Bill and Charlie were looking quite amused.

"H—How d—do you know about it?" He finally managed to stutter out.

"I didn't know that all the three schools had signed on." Harry calmly replied.

"B—But how can you know?" Percy asked again. "The files about it were clearly marked **'Top-Secret'**." He spluttered out.

Ginny kicked Fred and soon the twins who too were still processing the information started their gig. Everyone of course knew what the TriWizard Championship was all about; even though had been cancelled a long time ago.

"Well you know Percy, how important Harry is." The twins began in their inimitable style. "Well last year at Hogwarts itself, Professor Dumbledore approached him and as a very important member of the student-body and as the delegate of the student-body he was asked his opinions about re-starting the TriWizard championship. That is how he and we all know." The twins finished with a flourish and most of the table except Harry and Ginny were staring at the twins and Harry alternatively and a moment later most of them except Hermione and Mrs. Weasley burst into laughter.

"B—But, I was the Head-boy." Percy said over the laughter. "Why wasn't I asked for my opinion? I am supposed to be the delegate of the student-body. Why was HE asked and not me?"

"Most probably because they knew that you were a suck-up and would only nod your head in agreement no matter what your actual opinion was." The twins added helpfully.

"B—But I was the Head-boy." Percy spluttered again in a disappointed tone and everyone burst into laughter again everyone except Harry who was rather busy eating.

"All-right that's enough all of you." Mrs. Weasley said firmly.

"But how did you all know anyways?" Mr. Weasley continued. "I know very well that Harry wasn't asked for his opinion. So why don't you all explain."

"We didn't know anything until, Harry told us a minute ago." The twins said now ready for some fun at Harry's expense.

"Harry? How did you know?" Mr. Weasley asked. Harry looked up from his plate with his mouth full of chicken and salad and opened his mouth but closed it again when he realized that he would end up splattering Ron sitting opposite him. "Take you time, Harry. Swallow it." Mr. Weasley said kindly.

"Err…it was Professor Dumbledore who actually told me." Harry began. "But he told me accidentally. After the last Quidditch match, Professor McGonagall had summouned me to her office and they were all discussing about it and Professor McGonagall said that she was glad that the Quidditch Cup was cancelled the next year and I kind of freaked out and asked why and then Professor Dumbledore said something about three schools and we kind of figured out the rest."

"WHAT no Quidditch Cup?" The twins and Ron screamed out.

"That is insane. We will have to do something about it." The twins roared out but Mr. Weasley was still focused.

"Who is this, we?" He asked.

"Ginny and me." Harry replied and then realized that the rest were looking at him with a bit of hurt in their eyes. "Sorry guys. We just forgot all about it after that day. It is Hermione's fault actually. She drew up those draconian revision time-tables and everything just slipped out."

"Hey." Hermione protested. "It was because of those timetables that you topped Potions and Defense and Ron topped History again." She defended.

"What?" Mrs. Weasley screamed out. "Ron, you topped History again? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Oh don't get all excited mum, we cheat at History." Ron blurted out not wanting to be loaded with compliments because he had topped a completely theoretical subject. It was after the declaration that he realized what it sounded like.

"CHEAT? RONALD?" Mrs. Weasley was actually looking dangerous now.

"No—no it's not cheat—cheating." Ron tried to explain.

"You either use unfair means or not, Ronald. There is no middle-ground." Mrs. Weasley said.

"Yeah, how in the world did you manage to break that charm on the anti-cheating quills? Dumbledore sets that charm himself." Bill asked.

"Honestly mum, we don't cheat." Ron tried to explain. "Do you think that Hermione would allow us to cheat?"

"Then WHAT?" Mrs. Weasley asked practically ferociously.

"We—we…" Ron began but Hermione cut in.

"Oh, honestly Ron you can explain Quidditch to muggleborns but not this?" Hermione cried out exasperatedly before explaining. "What Harry, Ginny, Ron and the twins do is they don't use the reference-books that have been assigned for the subject nor do they use the notes that Professor Binns dictates. In fact if I am not mistaken they didn't even buy those books last year. They use other reference books from the library. Books written by authors who are better informed and better elocutionists and writes than Professor Binns. The only thing is that they all like doing it and Ron thinks that it is too dorky and geeky to do that and so he tries to avoid telling everyone about it and downplays it. That's how they get those unbelievably high grades in History." Hermione explained patiently.

"_Merlin, she can lie when she wants to." _Ginny exclaimed surprised.

"B—but then why did he say that it was cheating?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Because those books are not really from the library." Ginny said this time. "We found it in Professor Binns' office. Nobody ever enters it nor cleans it. Harry once entered the office by mistake while flying into the castle and that's how they and subsequently we found the books."

"Oh that's okay then." Mrs. Weasley said. "But you should share the books too. Education should be spread." 

"All-right mum." Ron exclaimed happy that Peeves had still remained a secret.

"Hold-on a second." Charlie exclaimed and Harry groaned. He thought that everyone had bought the story. "You." He said pointing towards, Harry." You enter the castle on a broom through a window?" He exclaimed in surprise.

"Every single day, oh dear brother." The twins exclaimed. "You should see him. It is like the Firebolt was made for him. His flying is like music. It soothes you if you are on his side but it scalds you if you are on the opposition. Hell, he contained three Slytherin chasers all flying on faster brooms within the centre of the pitch allowing Gryffindor to score 30 goals. The only time a bludger has ever hit him was when Malfoy's house-elf had charmed it to fly into him and injure him grievously. But of course it took that bludger six hours to find it's mark and he still caught the snitch with a broken arm. His Wronksi Feint will make Victor Krum look like an amateur. He seduces you into the dive and then WHAM you are on the ground with a broken broom and broken ego to boot. The broom does whatever he wants it to do. He is the Dumbledore of flying." The twins finished literally to a mesmerized audience and Harry simply went red and groaned as he concentrated on the pie.

"You forgot the flying in the blizzard and the underwater flight." Ron reminded the table.

"WHAT?" It was Mrs. Weasley, this time. "You flew into a blizzard. Wizards have died flying in snow-storms. Blizzard?"

"Mum, he is Harry." Harry groaned as the twins added; he really needed to get back at the twins.

"WHAT were you thinking flying into a blizzard, Harry?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"I—I…" He began eloquently as usual.

"It was a stress-buster at that time, mum." Ginny cut in. "Everyone thought that he was killing students at that time. That's why he just did that impulsively." She explained and the mood sobered at the table.

"Of course, this winter he did it because it was tradition." Hermione added grinning.

"And on a shooting star at that." Ron added making Harry literally bury his head in his plate. Mrs. Weasley was muttering something about how Quidditch makes the sweetest of boys do stupid things and what not.

"We were murdered by Transylvania. WHY were you not on England's team?" Charlie suddenly burst out.

"Because I am only14." Harry literally pleaded.

"So what Krum is barely eighteen or something." Ron reasoned.

"Can you honestly see my guardians giving me permission to participate in a freak World Cup?" Harry asked playing the trump-card.

"YES!" Screamed out Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the twins who were thinking about Sirius. While the rest who were thinking about the Dursleys shook their heads dejectedly and then looked at the other 'five' in surprise.

"Are we all talking about the same guardians of the same Harry Potter?" Bill asked amused in an amused voice.

"_We have to get the damn spotlight off me Gin before we reveal enough to put us all in Azkaban." _Harry implored.

"_You think?" _Ginny asked even as her mind was working furiously to think of some excuse even as the older Weasleys clearly looked like they really wanted some answers and Harry had a feeling that Mr. Weasley probably knew 'which' guardian they were talking about but luckily as nobody was probing any further, the subject died down.

"Look at the time," Mrs. Weasley said suddenly, checking her wristwatch. "You really should be in bed, the whole lot of you you'll be up at the crack of dawn to get to the Cup. Harry, if you leave your school list out, I'll get your things for you tomorrow in Diagon Alley. I'm getting everyone else's. There might not be time after the World Cup; the match went on for five days last time."

Harry felt as though he had barely lain down to steep in Ron's room when he was being shaken awake by Mrs. Weasley.

"Time to go, Harry, dear," she whispered, moving away to wake Ron.

Harry felt around for his glasses, put them on, and sat up. It was still dark outside. Ron muttered indistinctly as his mother roused him. At the foot of Harry's mattress he saw two large, disheveled shapes emerging from tangles of blankets.

"'S' time already?" said Fred groggily.

They dressed in silence, too sleepy to talk, then, yawning and stretching, the four of them headed downstairs into the kitchen.

Mrs. Weasley was stirring the contents of a large pot on the stove, while Mr. Weasley was sitting at the table, checking a sheaf of large parchment tickets. He looked up as the boys entered and spread his arms so that they could see his clothes more clearly. He was wearing what appeared to be a golfing sweater and a very old pair of jeans, slightly too big for him and held up with a thick leather belt.

"What d'you think?" he asked anxiously. "We're supposed to go incognito — do I look like a Muggle, Harry?"

"Yeah," said Harry, smiling, "very good."

"Where're Bill and Ch—Char—Charlie?" said George, failing to stifle a huge yawn.

"I am here." Bill said as he descended down the stairs.

"Aren't you going to apparate with Charlie and Percy?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"No, I think I will go with dad." Bill replied. "He will need help controlling these bozos." He said pointing towards the twins who were too sleepy to even retort back.

"Where have the girls gone to?" Mrs. Weasley said as she bustled out of the kitchen to find them. Harry realized that Ginny had gone back to sleep.

"_GET UP, GIN." _He mentally screamed and smiled in satisfaction when Ginny slipped from the chair she was drowsing off in.

"_I will get you for that, Potter." _She remarked irritably.

"_You mother's coming upstairs so get up and haul yourself down here." _Harry replied. A few minutes later both the girls came down both looking drowsy and pale. Ginny came and sat right next to Harry while slapping him on the head.

"_Oi!" _He said indignantly. _"I save you from your mother's wrath and I get a slap on the head?"_

"Why do we have to be up so early?" Ginny said ignoring Harry, rubbing her eyes and sitting down at the table.

"We've got a bit of a walk," said Mr. Weasley.

"Walk?" said Harry. "What, are we walking to the World Cup?"

"No, no, that's miles away," said Mr. Weasley, smiling. "We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup..."

"George!" said Mrs. Weasley sharply, and they all jumped.

"What?" said George, in an innocent tone that deceived nobody.

"What is that in your pocket?"

"Nothing!"

"Don't you lie to me!"

Mrs. Weasley pointed her wand at George's pocket and said, "_Accio_!" Several small, brightly colored objects zoomed out of George's pocket; he made a grab for them but missed, and they sped right into Mrs. Weasley's outstretched hand.

"We told you to destroy them!" said Mrs. Weasley furiously, holding up what were unmistakably more of the Toffees that they had tried to trick Dudley with. "We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets, go on, both of you!"

It was an unpleasant scene; the twins had evidently been trying to smuggle as many toffees out of the house as possible, and it was only by using her Summoning Charm that Mrs. Weasley managed to find them all.

"_Accio! Accio! Accio!_" she shouted, and toffees zoomed from all sorts of unlikely places, including the lining of George's jacket and the turn-ups of Fred's jeans.

"We spent six months developing those!" Fred shouted at his mother as she threw the toffees away.

""Oh a fine way to spend six months!" she shrieked. "No wonder you didn't get more OWLS!"

"Hey we scored more in Potions than even Bill and Percy did." The twins said indignantly. The destruction of their six months of labours seemed to spurred the reaction.

"You FAILED outright in four other subjects." She screamed out and the twins decided not to answer that and Harry had a feeling that they had probably simply not bothered to study for those subjects.

All in all, the atmosphere was not very friendly as they took their departure. Mrs.

Weasley was still glowering as she kissed Mr. Weasley on the cheek, though not nearly as much as the twins, who had each hoisted their rucksacks onto their backs and walked out without a word to her.

"Well, have a lovely time," said Mrs. Weasley, "and behave yourselves," she called after the twins' retreating backs, but they did not look back or answer. "I'll send Charlie and Percy along around midday," Mrs. Weasley said to Mr. Weasley, as he, Bill, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny set off across the dark yard after Fred and George.

Mr. Weasley had set the pace and was at the front of the line with Bill bringing up the rear. Ron and Hermione were as usual arguing about something so both Harry and Ginny fell back to get out of their argument's way. It was then that Bill came-up right next to them.

"So, you guys gonna tell me what exactly happened the day the dementors attacked you?" He asked and Harry froze.

"Well you see we were walking back after visiting Hagrid and then…." Ginny began the story but Bill interrupted them.

"The real story, Ginny." He said.

"_What do you think?" _Harry asked.

"_Well he is not as close-minded as Percy, but…" _Ginny began and then stopped.

"_Do you trust him?" _Harry asked candidly.

"_Yes." _Ginny simply replied.

"Can you keep a secret?" Harry asked Bill.

"Depends on what it is." Bill replied evenly yet firmly.

"Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall both know it." Ginny said.

"All-right then." He replied after a moment of pondering.

"The day the dementors attacked us we were not alone." Harry said and Bill's eye-brows shot into his hair. "Sirius Black was there with us." Harry added and this time Bill's eyes went wide.

"Oh and we helped him escape. In fact my wand wasn't lost that day. I gave it to him." Ginny added.

Bill stopped walking and the expression on his face was one beyond shock. "You WHAT?" he asked after a moment.

"What do you know about Sirius Black's conviction and crimes?" Harry asked as they started walking again.

"H—he killed those muggles and some wizard Pettigrew or something and also that…" He began but stopped and looked at Harry.

"And that he was my parents' secret-keeper." Harry added helpfully.

"Y—Y—Yes." Bill added clearly flustered now.

"How good is your heart?" Harry asked impishly. "That is can it survive a heart-attack?" He asked after Bill gave him a questioning look.

"Stout and healthy." Bill replied.

"That night Dementors attacked us because Sirius Black was with us and later we helped him escape……" Harry began with Ginny filling in with juicier parts. Ten minutes later Bill was literally frozen and was walking zombie-like and needless to add completely speechless.

"So can you still keep it a secret?" Ginny asked as they started climbing a hill.

"I—I think so. I mean I have to." Bill finally said. "Sweet Merlin! Nobody could have written such a story. So we were harboring a death-eater in our house for twelve years and we didn't notice. Bloody Hell!"

"It was as a rat though mind you." Harry reminded them as they finally reached the top of the hillock and noticed everyone searching for the Portkey that they were supposed to take to the Quidditch World Cup.

"Percy doesn't know that his rat was a death-eater does he?" Bill asked.

"Nope." Ginny answered. "Though he might get himself arrested for it or something." Ginny joked.

"So this is the reason why Barty Crouch had that kind of reaction on you? You think that after the war Sirius should have been tired again." Bill asked and continued after Harry nodded. "So this Sirius Black is the guardian who would readily give you permission to participate in the World Cup?" Bill asked with a smile on his face.

"Oh don't you dare start now, Bill." Harry groaned out the reply even as both Bill and Ginny started laughing.

"You, three get over here now." Mr. Weasley called out standing next to a man who looked vaguely familiar to Harry.

"_It's his son that's vaguely familiar, Harry. That's Mr. Diggory." _Ginny said and sure enough Harry spotted Cedric Diggory standing next to his father.

"All-right we have found the Portkey." Mr. Weasley said pointing to Mr. Diggory who was holding an old shoe in his hands.

"Merlin's beard, you are Harry Potter." Mr. Diggory said as he spotted Harry. "Ced's told us a lot about you." He said as he shook hands with Harry.

"Hello Cedric." Harry greeted the Hufflepuff who was a splitting image of his father.

"So, you decided not to try out for England then?" Cedric questioned back to Harry's irritation and all the Weasley's burst into laughter at that.

"Not you too and it's not like I would have been a shoo-in either." Harry practically pleaded in an annoyed voice if that was even possible.

"You easily are much better than the Warren-guy who was our seeker." Cedric replied. "And you better be prepared because if only the Hufflepuffs are any indication you really are going to get a lot of grief for not trying out and we Hufflepuffs are the easily the most mild-mannered group among the rest of the school." He finished to another round of groans from Harry and a round of amused laughter from the rest.

"And there will be many—many—many students from Hogwarts today at the final." The twins declared ceremoniously even as Mr. Weasley asked everyone to collect themselves around the Portkey.

About a minute later the Portkey began glowing blue and both Mr. Weasley and Mr. Diggory asked them to make sure that they were touching the shoe then a minute later Harry felt a giant tug behind his navel. His feet left the ground; he could feel Ginny and Hermione on either side of him, their shoulders banging into his; they were all speeding forward in a howl of wind and swirling color; his forefinger was stuck to the boot as though it was pulling him magnetically onward and then — His feet slammed into the ground; Ron staggered into him and he fell over; the Portkey hit the ground near his head with a heavy thud. Harry looked up. Mr. Weasley, Mr. Diggory, and Cedric were still standing, though looking very windswept; everybody else was on the ground.

"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill," said a voice.

Harry looked around and realized that they had arrived on a moor. It was rather misty so Harry couldn't see much around. They said their goodbyes to Weasley even as Cedric wished luck to Harry, to his great irritation and then they moved towards the campsite manager, one Mr. Roberts who was a muggle. After paying him they made their way towards the campsite marked **'Weezly' **settled down to set-up the two tents.

"_How are the ten of us going to fit in two tents, Gin?" _Harry asked even as he and Hermione tried to figure the way to set them up.

"_Magic, Potter." _Ginny replied. _"You didn't think that they would be normal on the inside did you?"_

And sure enough the tents had more than enough space for the ten of them to fit in. After the tents were set-up, Mr. Weasley sent Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny to get water from a tap while the twins were sent to collect firewood.

Now, with the sun newly risen and the mist lifting, they could see the city of tents that stretched in every direction. They made their way slowly through the rows, staring eagerly around. It was only just dawning on Harry how many witches and wizards there must be in the world; he had never really thought much about those in other countries.

"_Really how self-centered can you be, Potter?" _Ginny asked him playfully.

"_Hahah. I have been too busy fighting off dementors and Snape-taming to really think how big and huge the wizarding world really is." _Harry replied quite truthfully. Even now he couldn't quite picture wizards from Brazil or from Japan.

"Er — is it my eyes, or has everything gone green?" said Ron.

It wasn't just Ron's eyes. They had walked into a patch of tents that were all covered with a thick growth of shamrocks, so that it looked as though small, oddly shaped hillocks had sprouted out of the earth. Grinning faces could be seen under those that had their flaps open. Then, from behind them, they heard their names.

"Harry! Guys!"

It was Seamus Finnigan, their fellow Gryffindor fourth year. He was sitting in front of his own shamrock-covered tent, with a sandy-haired woman who had to be his mother, and his best friend, Dean Thomas, also of Gryffindor.

"So, Harry you decided not to try out then." Was the first question from Dean the moment Harry was close enough for a conversation.

"Oh for heavens sake drop it guys. I never even thought of trying out. It was only Wood's made up doodle." Harry groaned out for the nth time since arriving at the Weasleys. "And I am not that good." Harry insisted. That led to a bout of laughter among the four Gryffindors while Seamus' mother looked on curiously.

"Have you seen yourself fly, mate?" Dean asked him. "Do us all a favour and buy one of those omniculors things and we will record yourself fly against everyone else this year and then let's have this discussion again." Dean said and Harry started walking away muttering something about killing Wood.

"Interesting decorations the Irish have put-up." Hermione said. "I wonder what the Bulgarians have put-up."

"Let's check it out." Ginny said pointing towards the large group of tents where the giant Bulgarian flag was fluttering.

The tents here had not been bedecked with plant life, but each and every one of them had the same poster attached to it, a poster of a very surly face with heavy black eyebrows. The picture was, of course, moving, but all it did was blink and scowl.

"Krum," said Ron quietly.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Krum!" said Ron. "Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker!"

"He looks really grumpy," said Hermione, looking around at the many Krums blinking and scowling at them.

"'Really grumpy?" Ron raised his eyes to the heavens. "Who cares what he looks like? He's unbelievable. He's really young too. Only just eighteen or something. He's a genius, you wait until tonight, you'll see. I reckon he's almost as good as Harry is."

"Drop it guys for heavens sake." Harry said the annoyance seeping into his tone. "I didn't even try out for the team and you…."

"And we are going to give you grief for that." Ginny completed his semi-rant.

"_Not you too, Gin." _Harry mentally pleaded.

"_Well, it's fun." _Ginny replied. _"Dementors and basilisks and Snape and trolls don't faze you but simply accepting that you really are good at the thing that you do the best fazes you for some reason. It's kind of funny and cute."_

"_I am glad that you find it funny." _Harry replied sardonically as they stood in the line at the water-tap.

After filling-up the pots and saucepans with water and laughing their heads out at a wizard who insisted on wearing a female-nightie the foursome started making their way back towards their tents. On the way back they came across Ernie McMillan and Cho Chang and not very surprisingly both asked him as why hadn't he tried out for the English team. Oliver Wood spotted them too and dragged Harry over to introduce him to his parents who too asked him why he hadn't tried out. It seemed that the entire Wood family was Quidditch-crzay. After reaching their tents again, Hermione helped Mr. Weasley set-up the fire and about an hour later it was hot enough to cook. Even as they started cooking, Charlie and Percy turned up.

They were halfway through their plates of eggs and sausages when Mr. Weasley jumped to his feet, waving and grinning at a man who was striding toward them. "Aha!" he said. "The man of the moment! Ludo!"

Ludo Bagman was easily the most noticeable person Harry had seen so far, even including old man in his flowered nightdress. He was wearing long Quidditch robes in thick horizontal stripes of bright yellow and black. An enormous picture of a wasp was splashed across his chest. He had the look of a powerfully built man gone slightly to seed; the robes were stretched tightly across a large belly he surely had not had in the days when he had played Quidditch for England. His nose was squashed (probably broken by a stray Bludger, Harry thought), but his round blue eyes, short blond hair, and rosy complexion made him look like a very overgrown schoolboy.

"Ahoy there!" Bagman called happily. He was walking as though he had springs attached to the balls of his feet and was plainly in a state of wild excitement. "Arthur, old man," he puffed as he reached the campfire, "What a day, eh? What a day! Could we have asked for more perfect weather? A cloudless night coming ... and hardly a hiccough in the arrangements... Not much for me to do!"

"_Well he seems a rather immature for the Head of a Department." _Harry said.

"_And you are sounding just like Percy." _Ginny shot back playfully even as Harry glared right-back at her.

After the introductions and the usual stare up at Harry's scar, Harry and Ginny decided to wander around the campsite a bit. It was quite a veritable gathering of witches and wizards of every possible nationality and Harry just decided to soak in the atmosphere. They ran across a salesman selling Omniculors and bought about four of them.

"Investment for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Gin." Harry said by a way of explanation. "We can have someone recording out moves and then we can improve after reviewing the practice later."

"Or maybe you want to check out how good you really are…" Ginny suggested playfully.

"Yeah, well that too." Harry admitted. "Only I can prove that I am not International material."

"We'll just see." Ginny said as they headed back to their tents.

In hindsight Harry was glad that they had taken off when they had as Barty Crouch had visited their tents and Harry wasn't quite sure that he would have been able to control his temper. As the match drew closer and closer the excitement in the campsite was becoming palpable. The Weasleys, Hermione and Harry were supporting Ireland and were wearing the Green rosettes or carrying Irish flag. And then a deep, booming gong sounded somewhere beyond the woods, and at once, green and red lanterns blazed into life in the trees, lighting a path to the field.

"It's time!" said Mr. Weasley, looking as excited as any of them. "Come on, let's go!"

They started moving along the path in the woods and soon emerged out on the other side and found themselves in the shadows of a gigantic stadium, which according to Mr. Weasley could seat a hundred thousand people.

"Prime seats!" said the Ministry witch at the entrance when she checked their tickets. "Top Box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go."

The stairs into the stadium were carpeted in rich purple. They clambered upward with the rest of the crowd, which slowly filtered away through doors into the stands to their left and right. Mr. Weasley's party kept climbing, and at last they reached the top of the staircase and found themselves in a small box, set at the highest point of the stadium and situated exactly halfway between the golden goal posts. About thirty purple-and gilt chairs stood in two rows here, and Harry, filing into the front seats with the Weasleys, looked down upon a scene the likes of which he could never have imagined.

A hundred thousand witches and wizards were taking their places in the seats, which rose in levels around the long oval field. Everything was suffused with a mysterious golden light, which seemed to come from the stadium itself. The field looked smooth as velvet from their lofty position. At either end of the field stood three goal hoops, fifty feet high; right opposite them, almost at Harry's eye level, was a gigantic blackboard. Gold writing kept dashing across it as though an invisible giant's hand were scrawling upon the blackboard and then wiping it off again; watching it, Harry saw that it was flashing advertisements across the field.

Harry tore away his eyes from the scene around him and looked over his shoulders to see who else shared the box. There was a house-elf sitting in the corner and Harry supposed that she was saving a seat for her master whoever it was.

The box filled gradually around them over the next half hour. Mr. Weasley kept shaking hands with people who were obviously very important wizards. Percy jumped to his feet so often that he looked as though he were trying to sit on a hedgehog. When Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself, arrived, Percy bowed so low that his glasses fell off and shattered. Highly embarrassed, he repaired them with his wand and thereafter remained in his seat, throwing jealous looks at Harry, whom Cornelius Fudge had greeted like an old friend. They had met before, and Fudge shook Harry's hand in a fatherly fashion, asked how he was, and introduced him to the wizards on either side of him.

"Harry Potter, you know." Fudge began telling the Bulgarian minister who Fudge thought couldn't understand any English. But Harry felt differently as the Bulgarian minister had certainly gone alert the moment the name, Harry Potter was uttered and he seemed to be putting on an act. "_Harry Potter _... oh come on now, you know who he is ... the boy who survived You-Know-Who ... you _do _know who he is —"

"_Yeah, I think he's putting on an act as well." _Ginny said.

By this time the Bulgarian Minister's eyes had reached Harry's scar and he started gabbling in some foreign language that Harry supposed was Bulgarian.

"Knew we'd get there in the end," said Fudge wearily to Harry. "I'm no great shakes at languages; I need Barty Crouch for this sort of thing. Ah, I see his house-elf's saving him a seat... Good job too, these Bulgarian blighters have been trying to cadge all the best places ... ah, and here's Lucius!"

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione turned quickly. Edging along the second row to three still-empty seats right behind Mr. Weasley were none other than Lucius Malfoy; his son, Draco; and a woman Harry supposed must be Draco's mother.

"Ah, Fudge," said Mr. Malfoy, holding out his hand as he reached the Minister of Magic.

"How are you? I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"

"How do you do, how do you do?" said Fudge, smiling and bowing to Mrs. Malfoy. "And allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oblansk - Obalonsk - Mr. - well, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can't understand a word I'm saying anyway, so never mind. And let's see who else - you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?"

It was a tense moment. Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy looked at each other and Harry vividly recalled the last time they had come face-to-face: It had been in Professor McGonagall's office and Malfoy had been accused by Harry of planting the diary on Ginny.

"Good lord, Arthur," he said soft sneering tone. "What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn't have fetched this much?"

"Hello, Mr. Malfoy." Harry said as he stepped forward. His temper was quite the breaking point. Malfoy had absolutely no right to insult Mr. Weasley. "Nice seeing you up and upbeat again. I heard that you had taken your dismissal from the Hogwarts Board of Governance for gross misconduct and incompetence rather hard." Harry said in a deadpan tone.

There suddenly was a dead silence in the Top-Box as everyone heard what Harry had just said. The Bulgarian Minister stared at Harry too and now Harry was convinced that he understood English perfectly well.

"A—ah surely Harry my boy, you didn't need to label a simple misunderstanding as a dismissal." Fudge began spluttering and Harry was surprised that he was actually defending Lucius Malfoy.

"_That's the Galleons doing the talking, Harry." _Ginny said and sure enough a moment later Fudge mentioned something about the Malfoy's donating a large sum to St. Mungos and then later moved on towards his seat.

"You are going to meet a sticky end, one-day Potter." Lucius Malfoy sneered out as soon as the Ministers were out of ear-shot.

"That's what Voldemort said to me the last time we met." Harry said and saw Lucius Malfoy recoil with what clearly was fear in his eyes. "But I am still here and he isn't."

A moment later Malfoy gathered himself and started walking down the line, his wife and son in tow. For almost a minute almost no-one spoke and then Percy pulled himself up apparently quite intent on giving Harry a lecture but a withering glare from Ginny later he sat back down without saying a word. Meanwhile Ludo Bagman had arrived and after receiving confirmation from the Minister did a Sonorous charm on his throat and began commenting.

"Welcome to the finals of Quidditch World Cup ladies and gentlemen." Bagman's voice resounded through the stadium and a hundred thousand witches and wizards cheered their guts out. "Since we are all here, LET THE SHOW BEGIN….." Bagman announced to another thunderous applause.

And some show it was. It began with dazzling performances from the Irish and Bulgarian mascots. The Leprechauns were the Irish mascots while the Veela were the Bulgarian mascots. The Veela were simply the most beautiful women that Harry had ever seen though Harry felt that there was something off about them. The Veela made the rest of the Weasleys and the entire male population inside the stadium do some quite stupid things though Harry didn't feel their effects at all.

The game began soon thereafter and it was Quidditch like Harry had never seen before. The chasers were not simply fast but super-fast. Their Firebolts seemed to be tweaked to extract that little more from them. The plays between the chasers were so fast that Bagman only had time to yell out their names before the plays either ended in a goal or were intercepted by the opposition. They were all only blurs of red and green. The Irish chasers were indeed brilliant as compared to the Bulgarians and Ireland was up thirty to nil in no time. The Bulgarian beaters were however brutal and that hampered the Irish scoring to a great deal.

Harry of course did not help his cause when he guessed correctly and instinctively screamed out that Viktor Krum was doing a Wronksi Feint and hadn't actually seen the snitch and sure enough a few seconds later, Krum pulled out of the dive while Lynch crashed into the ground and needed medical attention. Needless to say after that more than a few people in the Top-Box including Bagman glanced at Harry with something that Harry was sure looked like respect. It did annoy him but Ginny enjoyed it to no ends. Soon after the Irish seeker was revived and he was back in the air.

The game meanwhile had become even more fast and furious. Ireland had pulled ahead by an additional ten goals and the Bulgarians were becoming more and more vicious in their attacks and the aggression in their plays was escalating by the minute. More than a few fouls from both sides and even a clash between the mascots later the match was over.

Krum caught the snitch but Ireland won the match and the World Cup by ten points. The scoreboard was flashing **BULGARIA: 160, IRELAND: 170** across the crowd, who didn't seem to have realized what had happened. Then, slowly, as though a great jumbo jet were revving up, the rumbling from the Ireland supporters grew louder and louder and erupted into screams of delight.

An hour later they were sitting in the boy's girls' tents discussing the match and giving verbal replay after replay. The twins who had apparently bet on Krum catching the snitch yet Ireland winning were richer by over a hundred and fifty galleons and the delight was clear on their faces.

"Why did he catch the snitch for?" Ron asked for the nth time.

"It was useless." Harry replied. "The Irish seekers were too good. Bulgaria would have never caught up. He probably wanted to end it on his terms."

"So how did you guess that Krum was feinting anyways?" Charlie asked Harry even as Mr. Weasley and Hermione passed around the hot cocoa.

"Well for starters I couldn't spot the snitch." Harry replied as if that explained half the things. "Then the look of concentration on his face was way too intense to be real. There was no excitement or nervousness or anxiety on his face. No matter how many times I have tried the moment I spot the snitch and go after it a little excitement does leak onto my face. Then the path of his dive didn't make much sense either. The path of the dive actually gave Lynch enough time and a chance to see that his opponent was diving and compel Lynch to dive simply out of pressure. Then Krum kept on looking backwards to see where Lynch was and he did slow down the Firebolt until Lynch had drawn alongside him. The angle was way too gentle at the launch. It should and would have been a really—really sharp dive if he had actually seen the snitch because that would have given him maximum velocity and momentum and made Lynch following him much more difficult. It was only after Lynch had caught-up that Krum made the dive sharper and thus increasing the momentum. Of course by then Lynch was following Krum practically subconsciously and would have jumped off the broom if Krum had." Harry finished the explanation to a pretty much stunned audience.

"_Even Percy is looking impressed, Harry." _Ginny said a smile playing on her face. _"And trust me he does not understand the nitty-grittys of Quidditch." _

"You analyzed and processed all that within three seconds during the game?" Charlie asked astounded. "You are not the Dumbledore of flying but the bloody Merlin of flying." Charlie exclaimed very seriously and after a moment instead of laughing the rest of the Weasleys and Hermione simply nodded in agreement.

"Err…Ok?" Harry began eloquently as usual whenever praise was lathered on him and this time the Weasleys and Hermione did indeed laugh out.

"All-right, let's all go to bed now please." Mr. Weasley said as soon as the laughter started dying down. "We will try and get an early Portkey out tomorrow morning before the crowd really builds up."

They all moved out and started moving towards their tent. Harry got the top bunk above Ron and he began settling in to sleep. The Irish were still celebrating and he could hear the sounds of their wild singing and dancing.

"_Good-night, Gin." _Harry wished.

"_Good-night Aerial-Merlin." _Ginny wished back mischievously.

"_What? That does not even mean anything." _Harry said annoyed.

"_Of course, it does." _Ginny defended. _"It means that you are the Merlin of the air."_

"_Hahah very funny."_

"_Hey!" _She began in mock indignation._ "It is much better than Scarhead."_

"_Hey, Scarhead was…" _Harry was about to reply when suddenly the sounds around the campsite seemed to have been suddenly muted. Harry wondered what was happening and a moment later screams could be heard from outside their tents.

"_What the hell is that?"_

"_No, idea Gin." _Harry replied. _"Should we check it out?"_

"_I think so." _Ginny replied and a moment later Harry jumped down cleanly from his bunk and landed gracefully on the floor.

"Good you are up" It was Mr. Weasley who was entering their room. His voice was strained and tense. Harry had never quite heard that tone from Mr. Weasley before. "Wake up Ron quickly and be out within two minutes. Only wear whatever you can wear within two minutes and shoes. I will wake up the girls." Mr. Weasley ordered and strode out of the boys' tent without waiting for a reply.

"_Ginny?"_

"_Yeah, I am up." _Ginny replied. _"Damn the drunken Irish."_

"_I don't think that the drunken Irish are responsible for this." _Harry replied as he remembered Mr. Weasley's tone. Harry shook Ron awake which was quite an achievement in itself and ordered him to wear shoes and pull over some jeans. Three minutes later Ron and Harry were outside and the sight outside made Harry's blood boil.

A crowd of wizards tightly packed and moving together with wands pointing straight upward was marching slowly across the field. Harry squinted at them. . . . They didn't seem to have faces. . . . Then he realized that their heads were hooded and their faces masked. High above them, floating along in midair, four struggling figures were being contorted into grotesque shapes. It was as though the masked wizards on the ground were puppeteers, and the people above them were marionettes operated by invisible strings that rose from the wands into the air. Two of the figures were very small.

More wizards were joining the marching group, laughing and pointing up at the floating bodies. Tents crumpled and fell as the marching crowd swelled. Once or twice Harry saw one of the marchers blast a tent out of his way with his wand. Several caught fire. The screaming grew louder.

The floating people were suddenly illuminated as they passed over a burning tent and Harry recognized one of them: Mr. Roberts, the campsite manager. The other three looked as though they might be his wife and children. One of the marchers below flipped Mrs. Roberts upside down with his wand; her nightdress fell down to reveal voluminous drawers and she struggled to cover herself up as the crowd below her screeched and hooted with glee.

"That's sick," Ron muttered, watching the smallest Muggle child, who had begun to spin like a top, sixty feet above the ground, his head flopping limply from side to side. "That is really sick. . . ."

Hermione and Ginny came hurrying toward them, pulling coats over their nightdresses, with Mr. Weasley right behind them. At the same moment, Bill, Charlie, and Percy emerged from the boys' tent**, **fully dressed, with their sleeves rolled up and their wands out.

"I thought that you couldn't levitate people with Wingardium Leviosa…" Harry asked Hermione as soon as she was within ear-shot.

"It can't be done." Hermione replied. "They are probably using some other spell."

"All-right, all six of you." Mr. Weasley addressed all of them. "Stay together under all circumstances. Go into the woods and wait for me or one of the older boys to come and fetch you. Now go."

The six started heading towards the woods again. They all looked back as they reached the trees. The crowd beneath the Roberts family was larger than ever; they could see the Ministry wizards trying to get through it to the hooded wizards in the center, but they were having great difficulty. It looked as though they were scared to perform any spell that might make the Roberts family fall.

The colored lanterns that had lit the path to the stadium had been extinguished. Dark figures were blundering through the trees; children were crying; anxious shouts and panicked voices were reverberating around them in the cold night air. Harry felt himself being pushed hither and thither by people whose faces he could not see. Then he heard Ron yell with pain.

"What happened?" said Hermione anxiously, stopping so abruptly that Harry walked into her. "Ron, where are you? Oh this is stupid…..oh no, I must have dropped my wand somewhere." Hermione exclaimed.

"_Lumos._" Harry said as he took out his wand and lit it. "Where did you drop it, Hermione?"

"I—I don't know." She replied. "The last time I remember was taking it out while we were making tea in the afternoon."

"Then it's probably in the tent." Ginny said. "Don't worry we will find it. Now let's get moving. The twins have disappeared ahead of us."

They started moving again and reached a relatively empty stretch of woods when a drawling voice interrupted them.

"Running away, Potter? No heroics this time?" It was Draco Malfoy. He was standing alone nearby, leaning against a tree, looking utterly relaxed. His arms folded, he seemed to have been watching the scene at the campsite through a gap in the trees.

"Yeah, I prefer Voldemort rather than some drunken masked-idiots." Harry replied and had the satisfaction of Malfoy recoil once again in fear. Uttering Voldemort's name seemed to be the perfect recipe to shut the Malfoy's up. "You Malfoys sure are scared of Voldemort's name aren't you? Tell your father that I said hi and I haven't forgotten what he is responsible for."

Harry said and then turned around and started making his way deeper into the woods. A rustling noise nearby made all three of them jump. Winky the house-elf was fighting her way out of a clump of bushes nearby. She was moving in a most peculiar fashion, apparently with great difficulty; it was as though someone invisible were trying to hold her back.

"There is bad wizards about!" she squeaked distractedly as she leaned forward and labored to keep running. "People high - high in the air! Winky is getting out of the way!" And she disappeared into the trees on the other side of the path, panting and squeaking as she fought the force that was restraining her.

"What's up with her?" said Ron, looking curiously after Winky. "Why can't she run properly?"

"Bet she didn't ask permission to hide," said Harry. He was thinking of Dobby: Every time he had tried to do something the Malfoys wouldn't like, the house-elf had been forced to start beating himself up.

"House-elves get a very raw-deal…." Hermione began but was cut-off by Ginny.

"Later, Hermione." Ginny said. "We are four of us and we only have two wands among us. If somebody does end-up here we would be in a real soup."

They followed the dark path deeper into the wood, still keeping an eye out for the twins. They passed a group of goblins who were cackling over a sack of gold that they had undoubtedly won betting on the match, and who seemed quite unperturbed by the trouble at the campsite. A few minutes of walking later they reached a clearing and they decided to sit there and wait for the ruckus to get over.

"Wonder who they were." Harry said. "They sure weren't drunken Irish supporters."

"Probably former death-eaters." Hermione pronounced and received astounded looks in reply. "I read somewhere that they used to wear masks while doing their…stuff."

"Wonder if Malfoy's dad was there too. He was looking way too calm there back by the tree." Harry said.

"Probably." Ginny said and then the four fell into an anxious silence.

"Those poor Muggles, though," said Hermione nervously after a few minutes. "What if they can't get them down?"

"They will," said Ron reassuringly. "They'll find a way."

"Mad, though, to do something like that when the whole Ministry of Magic's out here tonight!" said Hermione. "I mean, how do they expect to get away with it? Do you think they've been drinking, or are they just -"

But she broke off abruptly and looked over her shoulder. Harry and Ron looked quickly around too. It sounded as though someone was staggering toward their clearing. They waited, listening to the sounds of the uneven steps behind the dark trees. But the footsteps came to a sudden halt.

"Hello?" called Harry with his wand in his hand.

There was silence. Harry got to his feet and peered around the tree. It was too dark to see very far, but he could sense somebody standing just beyond the range of his vision.

"Who's there?" he said.

And then, without warning, the silence was rent by a voice unlike any they had heard in the wood; and it uttered, not a panicked shout, but what sounded like a spell.

"_MORSMORDRE!"_

And something vast, green, and glittering erupted from the patch of darkness Harry's eyes had been struggling to penetrate; it flew up over the treetops and into the sky.

"What the - ?" Gasped Ron as he sprang to his feet again, staring up at the thing that had appeared.

For a split second, Harry thought it was another leprechaun formation. Then he realized that it was a colossal skull, comprised of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue. As they watched, it rose higher and higher, blazing in a haze of greenish smoke, etched against the black sky like a new constellation.

Suddenly, the wood all around them erupted with screams. Harry didn't understand why, but the only possible cause was the sudden appearance of the skull, which had now risen high enough to illuminate the entire wood like some grisly neon sign. He scanned the darkness for the person who had conjured the skull, but he couldn't see anyone.

"Who's there?" he called again.

"Harry, come on, _move!" _Hermione had seized the collar of his jacket and was tugging him backward.

"What's the matter?" Harry said, startled to see her face so white and terrified.

"It's the Dark Mark, Harry!" Hermione moaned, pulling him as hard as she could.

"You-Know-Who's sign!"

"_Voldemort's _…"

"_Let's go, Potter. Now's not the time." _Ginny said as she too pulled on Harry.

Harry turned and the four started moving away but before they had taken a few hurried steps, a series of popping noises announced the arrival of twenty wizards, appearing from thin air, surrounding them.

Harry whirled around, and in an instant, he registered one fact: Each of these wizards had his wand out, and every wand was pointing right at him, Ginny Ron, and Hermione.

Without pausing to think, he yelled, "DUCK!" He seized Ginny and Hermione and pushed them towards the ground and simply kicked Ron making him fall and then threw himself flat on the ground as well, barely in time.

"_STUPEFY!" _roared twenty voices - there was a blinding series of flashes and Harry felt the hair on his head ripple as though a powerful wind had swept the clearing. Raising his head a fraction of an inch he saw jets of fiery red light flying over them from the wizards' wands, crossing one another, bouncing off tree trunks, rebounding into the darkness— A moment later Harry jumped back onto his feet with his wand at the ready.

"Stop!" yelled a voice he recognized. "STOP! _That's Harry Potter and my children!" _It was Mr.Weasley.

But that didn't seem to be enough for about ten to fifteen out of the thirty wizards who had surrounded them as another round of stunners was fired straight at him and only out of pure reflexes did he manage to throw himself down and avoid them.

Harry's hair stopped blowing about. He raised his head a little higher. The wizard in front of him had lowered his wand. He rolled over and saw Mr. Weasley striding toward them, looking terrified.

"Ron - Harry" - his voice sounded shaky - "Ginny, Hermione - are you all right?"

"Out of the way, Arthur," said a cold, curt voice.

It was Mr. Crouch. He and the other Ministry wizards were closing in on them. Harry got to his feet to face them. Mr. Crouch's face was taut with rage.

"Which of you did it?" he snapped, his sharp eyes darting between them. "Which of you conjured the Dark Mark?"

"We didn't do that!" said Harry angrily, gesturing up at the skull. "How in the world would we conjure that?"

"Do not lie, boy!" shouted Mr. Crouch. His wand was still pointing directly Harry, and his eyes were popping - he looked slightly mad. "You have been discovered at the scene of the crime! You have to be responsible and guilty." Harry had enough of it.

"I suggest that you lower your wand, Mr. Crouch." Harry said in a calm yet cold voice and a gasp was heard around the clearing. It seemed that no one countered Barty Crouch an absolutely no one ever asked him to lower his wand.

"HOW dare you BOY?" Crouch said in a furious voice.

"You and the at least another ten or perhaps fifteen ministry-wizards sent stunners at me the second time even after Mr. Weasley shouted out 'who' I was and I could hardly be a Voldemort's supporter." Everyone without exception recoiled on hearing the word Voldemort. Harry continued in a clam and composed voice yet everyone in the clearing could hear him. "Even if ten of them had hit me, I would have probably died. So I am not too comfortable with you brandishing a wand dead straight at me."

"Barty, they are kids." A witch in a long woolen gown whispered. "They could ne…."

"What if I don't?" Mr. Crouch asked curtly and everyone in the clearing was now staring at that exchange and the tension was palpable.

"_Harry, don't reply." _Ginny said. _"It's just his ego talking."_

"You came here to catch the person who conjured that skull-thing. None of us is responsible. You can continue to spat with me but it would be futile and trust me I would win. I only lose these verbal spats to Hermione and Ginny and you are neither. It would defeat the purpose of you all apparating here. Your call." Harry replied calmly and perhaps it was Harry's imagination but more than a few sighs of relief could be heard around the clearing. But Mr. Crouch still hadn't lowered his wand.

"You didn't answer the question, boy." Mr. Crouch asked and Harry heard more than a few breaths being taken-in around the clearing.

"I killed a damn basilisk, Mr. Crouch. Everything else is a bloody downgrade." Harry replied. His tone was still calm but his mood wasn't.

"Then make me do it, boy." Crouch said as he took another step closer towards Harry and pointed the wand dead at Harry. They were now barely two feet apart. Harry couldn't quite figure why Crouch was being so damn egoistic and idiotic.

"Perhaps some other time, Mr. Crouch. I am rather afraid of Professor McGonagall and if I kicked your arse in public I would be in life-long detention and that would cut into my free time." Harry replied and stared defiantly into Mr. Crouch's eyes.

"Barty we are wasting time. This is not why we are here." The witch said again but Crouch continued to ignore her.

"_What is wrong with this guy?" _Harry asked Ginny. _"I thought he was obsessed with catching dark wizards. Why is he after 'Harry Potter'?"_

"_Got me." _Was all that Ginny replied.

"Please, Mr. Crouch." It was Hermione. "The mark came from over there." Hermione said pointing over to the area where they had heard the voice. "There was someone behind the trees…they shouted words – an incantation."

"Oh, stood over there, did they?" said Mr. Crouch, turning his popping eyes on Hermione now, disbelief etched all over his face. "Said an incantation, did they? You seem very well informed about how that Mark is summoned, missy .."

But none of the Ministry wizards apart from Mr. Crouch seemed to think it remotely likely that Harry, Ginny, Ron, or Hermione had conjured the skull; on the contrary, at Hermione's words, they had all raised their wands again and were pointing in the direction she had indicated, squinting through the dark trees.

"We're too late," said the witch in the woolen dressing gown, shaking her head. "They'll have Disapparated."

"I don't think so," said a wizard with a scrubby brown beard. It was Amos Diggory, Cedric's father. "Our Stunners went right through those trees. . . . There's a good chance we got them. . .

"Amos, be careful!" said a few of the wizards warningly as Mr. Diggory squared his shoulders, raised his wand, marched across the clearing, and disappeared into the darkness. Hermione watched him vanish with her hands over her mouth.

A few seconds later, they heard Mr. Diggory shout.

"Yes! We got them! There's someone here! Unconscious! It's - but - blimey. .

"You've got someone?" shouted Mr. Crouch, sounding highly disbelieving. "Who? Who is it?"

They heard snapping twigs, the rustling of leaves, and then crunching footsteps as Mr. Diggory reemerged from behind the trees. He was carrying a tiny, limp figure in his arms. Harry recognized the tea towel at once. It was Winky.

"_Oh, boy!" _Ginny exclaimed.

"_You think she was responsible?" _Harry asked.

"_Nope wrong place at the wrong time probably." _Ginny said.

Mr. Crouch did not move or speak as Mr. Diggory deposited his elf on the ground at his feet. The other Ministry wizards were all staring at Mr. Crouch. For a few seconds

Crouch remained transfixed, his eyes blazing in his white face as he stared down at

Winky. Then he appeared to come to life again.

"This - cannot - be," he said jerkily. "No -"

He moved quickly around Mr. Diggory and strode off toward the place where he had found Winky.

"No point, Mr. Crouch," Mr. Diggory called after him. "There's no one else there."

But Mr. Crouch did not seem prepared to take his word for it. They could hear him moving around and the rustling of leaves as he pushed the bushes aside, searching.

"Bit embarrassing," Mr. Diggory said grimly, looking down at Winky's unconscious form. "Barty Crouch's house-elf. . . I mean to say..."

"Come off it, Amos," said Mr. Weasley quietly, "you don't seriously think it was the elf? The Dark Mark's a wizard's sign. It requires a wand."

"Yeah," said Mr. Diggory, "and she _had _a wand."

"_What?" _said Mr. Weasley.

"Here, look." Mr. Diggory held up a wand and showed it to Mr. Weasley. "Had it in her hand. So that's clause three of the Code of Wand Use broken, for a start. _No nonhuman_ _creature is permitted to carry or use a wand."_

Just then there was another _pop, _and Ludo Bagman Apparated right next to Mr. Weasley. Looking breathless and disorientated, he spun on the spot, goggling upward at the emerald-green skull.

"The Dark Mark!" he panted, almost trampling Winky as he turned inquiringly to his colleagues. "Who did it? Did you get them? Barry! What's going on?"

Mr. Crouch had returned empty-handed. His face was still ghostly white, and his hands and his toothbrush mustache were both twitching.

"Where have you been, Barty?" said Bagman. "Why weren't you at the match? Your elf was saving you a seat too - gulping gargoyles!" Bagman had just noticed Winky lying at his feet. "What happened to _her?"_

"I have been busy, Ludo," said Mr. Crouch, still talking in the same jerky fashion, barely moving his lips. "And my elf has been stunned."

"Stunned? By you lot, you mean? But why - ?" Comprehension dawned suddenly on Bagman's round, shiny face; he looked up at the skull, down at Winky, and then at Mr. Crouch. _"No!" _he said. "Winky? Conjure the Dark Mark? She wouldn't know how! She'd need a wand, for a start!"

"And she had one," said Mr. Diggory. "I found her holding one, Ludo. If it's all right with you, Mr. Crouch, I think we should hear what she's got to say for herself." Crouch gave no sign that he had heard Mr. Diggory, but Mr. Diggory seemed to take his silence for assent. He raised his own wand, pointed it at Winky, and said,

"_Ennervate!"_

Winky stirred feebly. Her great brown eyes opened and she blinked several times in a bemused sort of way. Watched by the silent wizards, she raised herself shakily into a sitting position.

She caught sight of Mr. Diggory's feet, and slowly, tremulously, raised her eyes to stare up into his face; then, more slowly still, she looked up into the sky. Harry could see the floating skull reflected twice in her enormous, glassy eyes. She gave a gasp, looked wildly around the crowded clearing, and burst into terrified sobs.

"Elf!" said Mr. Diggory sternly. "Do you know who I am? I'm a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures!" Winky began to rock backward and forward on the ground, her breath coming in sharp bursts. Harry was reminded forcibly of Dobby in his moments of terrified disobedience.

"As you see, elf, the Dark Mark was conjured here a short while ago," said Mr. Diggory.

"And you were discovered moments later, right beneath it! An explanation, if you please!"

"I - I - I is not doing it, sir!" Winky gasped. "I is not knowing how, sir!"

"You were found with a wand in your hand!" barked Mr. Diggory, brandishing it in front of her. And as the wand caught the green light that was filling the clearing from the skull above, Harry recognized it. It was Hermione's

"Hey - that's mine!" Hermione said.

Everyone in the clearing looked at her.

"Excuse me?" said Mr. Diggory, incredulously.

"That's my wand!" said Hermione. "I had lost it when we entered the woods for the first time.

"You lost it?" repeated Mr. Diggory in disbelief. "Is this a confession? You threw it aside after you conjured the Mark?"

"She's a muggle-born for Merlin's sake Amos." Mr. Weasley said. "How do you expect her to conjure it?"

"She lost it and somebody picked it up and probably conjured the Dark Mark and then threw it away before disapparating and Winky happened to pick it up before we arrived." The witch who had interrupted Mr. Crouch said and Harry saw most of the wizards in the clearing nod their approval.

"Where did you pick up the wand?" Mr. Diggory asked Winky and Harry heard as she gave some answer. Then he noticed out of the corner of his eyes Mr. Diggory perform some spell which proved that Hermione's wand was responsible for the Dark-Mark and an argument ensued. But he was most interested in the reactions on Mr. Crouch's face. His face had gone blank and he was still white as a sheet. It was like he had gone into shock. He couldn't help but feel that something was really off in Crouch's reactions. For some reason the blank face seemed utterly forced.

"_Why is he not interrogating Winky?" _Ginny asked. _"I mean Winky would be forced to answer the truth if her master asks her something."_

"_I have no idea." _Harry replied. _"Unless……he is trying to hide something."_

"_No, I doubt that. Crouch might have gone hard on you but he has decades worth of reputation of catching dark wizards and convicting them. Sirius might have been the only one without trial but other supporters were sentenced even when Voldemort was in power according to Ragnok's files." _Ginny said and Harry was forced to accept that.

"_But that still does not answer why he is not questioning Winky." _Harry said. _"I mean he condemned his own son to death in Azkaban. His house-elf should hardly be worth anything in his eyes. I have this feeling that he is trying to hide something."_

"_Well we can't do anything. What can we do, Harry?" _Ginny asked. _"We can't probably accuse him or something. You will be accusing one of the heroes of the ministry. That and everyone in the clearing noticed that you are not on excellent terms with Crouch either."_

Harry spent the rest of the time in the clearing trying to think of the reasons behind Crouch's apparent reasons for not questioning Winky. His suspicion that Crouch wanted to hide something became even more hardened when Crouch insisted on punishing Winky himself rather than have the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures take her in for questioning.

"_Don't say anything." _Ginny implored. _"You might be Harry Potter but Crouch still holds a hell a lot of sway at the Ministry."_

"_When did you become so cautious and wary?" _Harry asked Ginny.

"_Naah, just being cautious and wary when you are feeling like being rash and instinctive. Otherwise I am the instinctive one." _She shot back even as they started making their way back towards the campsite after Mr. Weasley had collected Hermione's wand. Throughout the trek back to the campsite, Harry simply couldn't get the strange reactions from Crouch out of his mind. He was hardly paying attention to where he was going; instead Ginny was practically leading him on. Their progress was hampered at the edge by a large crowd who wanted to know whether Voldemort was back and after assuring them that he wasn't Mr. Weasley started making his way to their tents.

The twins, Bill, Charlie and Percy were all already back in the tents. The hooded people had all disappeared the moment the Dark Mark had appeared and the made the belief that they were former death-eaters even stronger among the teenagers. The older brothers were sporting some minor injuries and they all gathered around the table as Mr. Weasley narrated the story of what happened after he had apparated into the clearing. Percy shot Harry unapproving glares after Mr. Weasley had told them a rather toned down version of events though Harry hardly noticed them as he was still too busy trying to find a reason for Mr. Crouch's weird behaviour. Harry tuned out of Bill's explanation of the mechanics behind the Dark-Mark and the reasons for the supposed death-eaters running away and tried to remember every event of the night.

"Something was very wrong with Mr. Crouch's behaviour today." Harry suddenly said and brought all the discussions at the table to a halt.

"What do you mean, Mr. Potter?" Percy asked pompously as usual.

"I don't know." Harry began rather ineloquently. "It was like Mr. Crouch was two separate persons after apparating into that clearing. The one before Winky was found was almost a maniacal former hero. A hero who had gone downhill in popularity due—due to certain reasons and who seemed to be searching for glory once again by catching another dark wizard." Harry paused for a moment as he pondered his next words. He knew that Mr. Weasley and Bill probably knew exactly why Crouch had gone off the popularity charts. "The one after Winky was found; seemed suddenly disinterested in that glory. He was quiet for almost five minutes while Mr. Diggory questioned Winky. Then he simply asserted his authority and wriggled his way out of a formal enquiry. Granted he got only his house-elf out of the enquiry but still. His refusal or rather his lack of enthusiasm to question his own house-elf reeked of intent to hide something because house-elves can never lie to their masters." Harry finished to a stunned audience for the second time in five hours.

"THAT is utter blasphemy, Mr. Potter." Percy began indignantly. "Mr. Crouch has been nothing but a loyal servant to the ministry and an administrator of the highest degree. You seem to have a grudge against Mr. Crouch. You are doing nothing but acting on that grudge….."

"Oi, Percy shut-up. Harry does not hold any grudges. He forgave Snape for heavens sake and he is practically responsible for his parents'……." Ron began without thinking and only realized what he was saying quite late and then shut-up but by then it was too late.

"Responsible for what?" Mr. Weasley asked as he looked at Harry.

"_Would you like to do the honours, Gin?" _Harry asked mentally.

"_Nope the stage is all yours." _She replied back and Harry took a deep breath before replying.

"Snape was a death-eater." He began and the older Weasleys all took in literally gulps of air. "But he turned a spy and saved many—many lives before Voldemort was defeated the last time so Crouch pardoned him. Unfortunately for me and my parents, Snape had passed on some information to Voldemort which made Voldemort come after me to kill me. Apparently the information which he provided was ambiguous and he didn't know that based on it Voldemort would come after the Potters. When he learnt that he changed sides and became a spy. I was pretty mad and really wanted to do more than simply bodily harm to Snape but then I realized that it would have made me no different than a death-eater. It is not like I have forgiven him or something." Harry paused. "I don't think that I can ever forgive the person whom I know is partially responsible for Voldemort coming after my family. It is just that I don't hold it against him anymore neither do I trust him. I just try to forget about it because he did try to make amends for it. Perhaps someday I will be able to forgive him but until then I will simply act like it never happened."

The Weasleys were silent for quite sometime. The younger Weasleys of course knew about it and the twins wasted no time in slapping Ron on the head.

"If you don't mind me asking; what is the information that Snape gave?" Bill asked after sometime.

Harry raised his eye-brows at that realizing that he hadn't asked it before. "I never asked it before. Actually it never occurred to me." Harry admitted honestly. "I should probably look into it perhaps."

"_Neither did it occur to me." _Ginny said over the link. _"Your brain is slowing mine down."_

"_Very funny."_

"The rest of you already knew this?" Mr. Weasley asked after sometime and the rest simply nodded. "Very well I think it's time that we all went to bed. We will try to get an early Portkey out of here tomorrow." Mr. Weasley said and everyone simply nodded and started heading back to their beds. Mr. Weasley caught up with Harry and held him back.

"I can't say that I knew your parents very-well. We were barely acquainted." Mr. Weasley said. "Though I can say this confidently as another parent that, your parents would have been immensely proud of the young man you have grown up to be." And Harry could only nod in agreement.


	24. Harry the HeadBoy

Harry barely had a couple of hours of sleep before he was woken up by Mr.Weasley. Their entire party was up and ready within no time. It seemed that everyone seemed anxious to leave the campsite as soon as possible. As soon as everyone was dressed and ready Mr. Weasley packed the tents magically and they were set to go.

After trudging through the campsite and wishing a rather confused Mr. Roberts whose memory had been modified a farewell they made their way across the moor where the Ministry had arranged for the Portkeys. They reached there only to find Basil, the Portkey-keeper swamped with a massive crowd who all wanted to be inside the security of their houses or indeed even countries as soon as possible.

"All of you wait here." Mr. Weasley ordered. "I will be back in a few minutes." He added before pushing on into the crowd.

"_Why can't Bill, Charlie, Percy and your dad side-apparate us?" _Harry asked.

"_It is supposed to be very difficult and I sincerely doubt that Percy can manage it." _Ginny replied. _"So that would mean three people having to side-apparate six and with luggage. That would be improbable at best."_

"_Yeah, I suppose. By the way, we completely forgot about Mr. Crouch and his odd behaviour after Ron's slip." _Harry said.

"_Yes, we all did." _Ginny started. _"But remember what I said about Crouch having decades of reputation to fall back on. Most people would probably write off that behaviour to shock thanks to his house-elf being caught with the wand that conjured the Dark-Mark."_

"_C'mon Gin. You read the transcripts as well. That man did not falter even once while sentencing his own son to Azkaban. His house-elf should not have shocked him so much and we still have no reasonable explanation for his strange behaviour with regards to me. He was hell-bent on proving that I conjured the damn mark."_

"_We don't but there is nothing that you can hold against him." _Ginny said. _"Perhaps you can talk with Professor Dumbledore after we are at Hogwarts."_

"_Yeah, I suppose so." _Harry said as he spotted Mr. Weasley fighting through the crowd and coming over towards them He had indeed procured a Portkey and a minute later they all found themselves on Stoatshead Hill again and began their trek down towards The Burrow.

They had barely rounded corner from which the Burrow came into view when they all heard a strangled cry and they all saw Mrs. Weasley running down the path and towards them. She threw herself at Mr. Weasley and then surprisingly she hugged both the twins at once banging their heads against each other. Her cause of worry was explained when Harry spotted the Daily Prophet which seemed to have a front-page photograph of the Dark-Mark and Harry was sure that the prefixed article would not have been any less sensational.

They all trudged into the kitchen and cramped around the table waiting for breakfast, but Mrs. Weasley was clearly too nervous and anxious to cook so Mr. Weasley got the pot of tea and poured her a cup of tea with some Firewhisky added to it. A minute later Mrs.Weasley seemed to have returned to normal and started cooking with some fevour.

"_Should we help her or something?" _Harry asked Ginny. _"She still is muttering and all."_

"_Naah. It's her way of dealing with stress. Don't worry." _Ginny replied as she made herself comfortable on Harry's shoulders and closed her eyes.

The next few days the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione spent lounging around and playing Quidditch where Harry was needled endlessly about his prowess on the broom. Inspite of everything the mood around the Burrow was quite tense as Mr. Weasley was working way overtime to sort out the entire World Cup mess at the ministry. Percy used to tell stories about it as well but since everyone tended to ignore him and his stories no one really knew what he used to talk about.

About three days before 1st of September, Harry and Ginny visited Diagon Alley with Bill. Ginny to buy a new wand which was surprisingly to be paid in full for by the ministry and Harry to meet Ragnok. Bill did a pretty big double-take when he learnt that Harry was meeting with Ragnok as Ragnok was supposed to be the leader of the Goblin-nation. The meeting went off very well and rather surprisingly Ragnok accepted the entire Sirius-story without a question. It seemed that he implicitly trusted Harry and Harry made a pact with himself that he would never lie to Ragnok.

Ginny's wand was rather difficult to find and eventually it turned out to be maghony with a phoenix feather as it's magical core. Harry wondered if the core matching had to do anything with them being soul-mates but neither he nor Ginny could come up with a possible explanation.

With only a day left before they had to set-off for Hogwarts, Harry was still working on the Potions' essay that had been assigned as the summer-homework by Snape. He had prepared four drafts and had Hermione proof-read two of his soft-copies and currently Bill was going through it after Hermione and the twins had already read through it.

"How come have you left your homework until so late, Harry?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she settled down onto the couch in the living-room.

"Err…" Harry began his 'expressive' reply.

"He hasn't left it until later." Hermione cut in and began the explanation. "It is just that Harry has set-off on an endeavor to prove that a Potions' essay can be written in which Snape will find no mistake or shortcomings in. Theoretical as well as Grammatical and it should be complete in every possible respect as well. Naturally it takes him enormous amounts of time to actually write such as an essay." Hermione finished the explanation to find Mrs. Weasley staring at her and Harry alternatively.

"But then why are these two;" She said pointing towards the twins. "Reading through it as well."

"Heh!" The twins shouted indignantly and everyone started laughing even as Hermione tried to convince Mrs. Weasley that the twins were really quite brilliant at Potions.

On the night before everyone was due to set-off for Hogwarts Mrs. Weasley cooked a magnificent dinner that included everyone's favourite. Harry had a feeling that they were going to have a hard time getting up on time the following morning but hell the Weasleys always made it 'just' in time for the Hogwarts Express.

"_That's the norm and the plan, Potter." _Ginny said following Harry's thoughts.

There was a definite end-of-the-holidays gloom in the air when Harry awoke next morning. Heavy rain was still splattering against the window as he got dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt; they would change into their school robes on the Hogwarts Express. He, Ron, Fred, and George had just reached the first-floor landing on their way down to breakfast, when Mrs. Weasley appeared at the foot of the stairs, looking harassed.

"Arthur!" she called up the staircase. "Arthur! Urgent message from the Ministry!" Harry flattened himself against the wall as Mr. Weasley came clattering past with his robes on back-to-front and hurtled out of sight.

It turned out that Mr.Weasley was needed to sort out a problem with muggle-policemen and Mad-eye Moody a former auror who was actually a legend but was now a paranoid nervous retiree.

Mr. Weasley's departure meant that Bill drove the Ford Angelina to King's Cross. They reached Kings' Cross quite comfortably but were soaked while getting to the platform thanks to the pouring rain.

Harry was used to getting onto platform nine and three-quarters by now. It was a simple matter of walking straight through the apparently solid barrier dividing platforms nine and ten. The only tricky part was doing this in an unobtrusive way, so as to avoid attracting Muggle attention. They did it in groups today; Harry, Ron, and Hermione (the most conspicuous, since they were accompanied by Pigwidgeon and Crookshanks) went first; they leaned casually against the barrier, chatting unconcernedly, and slid sideways through it. . . and as they did so, platform nine and three-quarters materialized in front of them.

The Hogwarts Express, a gleaming scarlet steam engine, was already there, clouds of steam billowing from it, through which the many Hogwarts students and parents on the platform appeared like dark ghosts. Pigwidgeon became noisier than ever in response to the hooting of many owls through the mist. Harry, Ron, and Hermione set off to find seats, and were soon stowing their luggage in a compartment halfway along the train. They then hopped back down onto the platform to say good-bye to Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie.

"Goodbye dears." Mrs. Weasley said as she hugged everyone. "No be god you two." She admonished the twins. "And I am glad that they have indeed changed the rules." She added mysteriously.

The six entered the compartment after wishing Bill and Charlie a goodbye as well and then Harry found himself corned by the twins.

"_Any idea what this is all about, Gin?" _

"_Nope."_

"So Harry are you sure that the Quidditch Cup is going to be cancelled?" The twins asked.

"I think so." Harry replied cautiously. "But why?"

"Well we are doing about rectifying it. We will be in contact soon." They simply replied and strode out of the compartment.

"You are screwed mate." Ron said as he settled onto the seat.

"Language Ron." Hermione said and that did the trick as the two went into another long drawn argument.

"_Any idea what the twins might do?" _Harry asked Ginny.

"_Probably spread the word around. People are not going to be happy that the Quidditch Cup has been cancelled. TriWizard or no TriWizard." _Ginny replied.

"_Then how are they going to rectify that?" _Harry asked.

"_Your guess is as good as mine." _Ginny said as she rested her head on Harry's shoulder and closed her eyes. Since it didn't look like Ron and Hermione were going to stop anytime soon Harry closed his eyes too and tried to doze off. Harry's nap was disturbed by the loud banging of the compartment door. It took Harry a couple of moments to realize that it was the Gryffindor Quidditch team minus Wood of course, who had trooped into the compartment.

"_Here's your answer Potter." _Ginny said as she woke up too and moved to make room for Angelina who clearly did not look too happy.

"So, Harry;" The twins began. "You have told us that the Quidditch Cup has been cancelled and we spread the word around."

"Yeah I can see that." Harry remarked.

"But it was supposed to be a secret and Professor Dumbledore was supposed to probably announce it in the evening." Hermione interrupted them.

"Give us some credit, Herms." The twins mock-chided her. "We haven't mentioned the 'BIG' thing. After-all we wouldn't want to get our star-player into trouble. We have only told everyone that the Quidditch Cup has been cancelled and by universal consent it is to be reinstated." The twins announced with the air of announcing the dismissal of Snape.

"All the Best guys." Harry remarked. "It will take some doing to convince Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall to re-instate the Quidditch Cup with the 'BIG' thing going." Harry said and almost instantly regretted it because the twins burst into wide smiles at that.

"Ah Mr. Potter, glad to see that you appreciate the enormity of the task, because you have been almost unanimously elected to represent the students before the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmistress." The twins announced with enough pomp to shame Percy.

"_You are done in, Potter." _Ginny mentally the laughter clear in her tone. It took Harry a couple of seconds before the gist of the twins' announcement hit him.

"WHAT?" Harry screamed out. "I am not doing that. Besides there are Head-Boys and prefects for that kind of things." To Harry's irritation everyone in the compartment burst into smiles.

"Ah, but none of them are Snape-tamers et all." The twins exclaimed.

"No I am not doing it." Harry said quite firmly.

"Shut-up, Harry." It was Angelina. "You didn't tryout for England. You can at least do this."

"What has…." Harry began but was interrupted by Angelina and the twins this time.

"Do it and we all won't give you grief for not trying out for England." Angelina added.

"Here's a petition." They handed Harry a letter. "It has been signed by everyone one on the train including the Slytherins. The only ones who haven't are you guys. It states that the students of Hogwarts cutting across the lines would like to have the Quidditch House Cup, no matter what."

"I don't think that too many are going to be that eager once they learn what is going to be conducted instead of it." Harry said.

"Actually not really." It was Hermione surprisingly who interrupted. "After-all it wouldn't include everyone from all the Houses. After-all there can be only one person from Hogwarts. So I think that there is a very good choice that people would like something to do with house-loyalties."

"Ah, we knew you were smart." The twins said. "Anyways;" They said turning towards Harry again. "How you arrange the Quidditch Cup, how you convince the staff, when you arrange it, the format anything and everything is up to you. The rest of the school just wants the damn Cup to be played out and everyone knows that you are responsible for it. Any questions?"

"_Ginny? Help!" _Harry called out but to his irritation found Ginny shaking with not so silent laughter.

"Err…I will try." Harry said tentatively.

"Ah, good enough for us." The twins stated royally.

"Wait, how in the world did you get the Slytherins to agree to this?" Ron suddenly asked.

"Well, we told them that Harry would be responsible for it." The twins started replying immediately. "And they thought that he would be unsuccessful and it was a good way to make him look stupid in front of the entire school."

"They thought that out?" Ginny asked with raise eyebrows even as Harry groaned loudly.

"Nope." The twins replied with a grin on their face. "We put forth that thought and they readily gobbled it up." The twins finished and everyone in the compartment burst out into outright laughter. "Oh and we 'ALL' would like results within the next 48-hours.

"One of these days, I am going to get you bozos." Harry said irritably even as the twins mock-bowed him and left the compartment with Angelina and Alicia laughing loudly.

"I had told you mate." Ron said. "Your future doesn't look good."

"So what are you going to do?" Hermione asked Harry.

"_Gin?"_

"_You know as well I do that you will give it a shot." _Ginny replied back.

"Might as well give it shot." Harry said after a few moments. "So Hermione what all do you know about the TriWizard tournament."

"Well it began as a model for……" Hermione began but Ron interrupted her.

"Not the extensive and useless version, Hermione." He said. "Only that information which might help in arranging the Quidditch Cup around it or perhaps before it or after it."

Harry was impressed, Ron had already thought about it. He really was quite good at planning out strategies.

"Oh okay." Hermione replied after a moment. "Well since Hogwarts is hosting the TriWizard tournament the remaining two schools would be camped out for the entire duration of the tournament at Hogwarts. There will obviously be three champions, one from each school and they have to complete three tasks most probably over the entire duration of the year. Though I don't think that they will arrive immediately."

"All-right so that means that we can arrange it before they arrives." Harry remarked.

"But the teams need time for holding try-outs to fill out the vacancies." Ron reminded them.

"Can't decide anything about the schedule now. We need more information." Ginny added.

"Yeah need to talk to Peeves about the whole tournament schedule." Harry replied. "He is bound to know about it. Can't do anything now." Harry added and everyone agreed about it.

As the afternoon progressed many of their friends visited them and wished Harry luck for having the Quidditch Cup reinstated. Malfoy made his customary visit and tried to insult Ron but Harry simply slammed the door on his face and Ginny locked it with a charm thus shutting Malfoy out. The rain was now belting down as they traveled further north. The sky was so dark and the windows so steamy that the lanterns were lit by midday. The lunch trolley came rattling along the corridor, and Harry bought a large stack of Cauldron Cakes for them to share.

Finally the Hogwarts Express started slowing down and a few minutes later came to a stop at the Hogsmeade station.

"Oooh, I wouldn't fancy crossing the lake in this weather," said Hermione fervently, shivering as they inched slowly along the dark platform with the rest of the crowd. A hundred horseless carriages stood waiting for them outside the station. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny climbed gratefully into one of them, the door shut with a snap, and a few moments later, with a great lurch, the long procession of carriages was rumbling and splashing its way up the track toward Hogwarts Castle.

Through the gates, flanked with statues of winged boars, and up the sweeping drive the carriages trundled, swaying dangerously in what was fast becoming a gale. Leaning against the window, Harry could see Hogwarts coming nearer, its many lighted windows blurred and shimmering behind the thick curtain of rain. Lightning flashed across the sky as their carriage came to a halt before the great oak front doors, which stood at the top of a flight of stone steps. People who had occupied the carriages in front were already hurrying up the stone steps into the castle. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny jumped down from their carriage and dashed up the steps too, looking up only when they were safely inside the cavernous, torch-lit entrance hall, with its magnificent marble staircase.

Harry entered the Entrance Hall to spot Peeves throwing red water-balloons at the already drenched students.

"PEEVES!" yelled an angry voice. "Peeves come down here at ONCE!" Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and head of Gryffindor House, had come dashing out of the Great Hall; she skidded on the wet floor and grabbed Hermione around the neck to stop herself from falling.

"Ouch - sorry, Miss Granger -"

"That's all right, Professor!" Hermione gasped, massaging her throat.

"Peeves, get down here NOW!" barked Professor McGonagall, straightening her pointed hat and glaring upward through her square-rimmed spectacles.

"Not doing nothing!" cackled Peeves, lobbing a water bomb at several fifth-year girls, who screamed and dived into the Great Hall. "Already wet, aren't they? Little squirts! Wheeeeeeeeee!" And he aimed another bomb at a group of second years who had just arrived

"I am WARNING you Peeves…" Professor McGonagall once again began angrily but Harry interrupted her.

"STOP IT Peeves." Harry screamed out and to everyone's utter surprise Peeves stopped almost instantly. "Com down here. I need to talk to you." Harry said and now to everyone absolute astonishment Peeves glided down and stopped right next to Harry.

"I need some information about the TriWizard Cup and I need it pronto." Harry whispered softly so that no-one else heard. "Can you meet me at your place within ten minutes and can you get me some parchment and ink and quills? And if possible some food please." Harry asked and Peeves simply bowed deeply and made his way through the ceiling.

Harry looked around to find Professor McGonagall staring at him incredulously. "Politeness and sweet words do help sometimes." Harry remarked tongue firmly in cheek and a few 'brave' students laughed at his quip.

"Follow me Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall said.

"B—but…" Harry began spluttering.

"It has got nothing to do with your dealings with Peeves, Mr. Potter. I would like to talk to you about certain other aspects of your behaviour." She said firmly and then turned around and started making her way towards the door through which the First-years came into the Great Hall.

"_Any idea what this is all about?" _Harry asked Ginny.

"_Nope." _Ginny replied. _"Perhaps it has to do with you threatening Crouch."_

"_What I never threatened Crouch!" _Harry shot back.

"_You did imply it and then after the first round of stunners you did jump up back again with your wand pointed dead at Crouch." _Ginny said.

"_Oh." _Harry simply said. _"You think that she can punish me for that?"_

"_We'll find out soon enough." _Ginny said as Harry entered the room and Professor McGonagall shut the door behind him and turned around to face him.

"I suspect that you do know why I want to talk to you." Professor McGonagall remarked.

"Err…I suppose over what I said to Mr. Crouch." Harry asked tentatively.

"Yes." She replied her face not giving away anything. "I believe that you practically accused Mr. Crouch of attempting to murder you." She said and this time Harry's eyebrows went straight into his hairline.

"_Where exactly did she hear that?" _Ginny asked as surprised.

"No Ma'am, not all." Harry replied indignantly.

"I said 'practically' not directly." Professor McGonagall reminded him.

"_I guess you did but not really." _Ginny said.

"No I did not. All I did was asked Mr. Crouch to lower his wand which was pointed at me and reasoned that since they had fired about twenty stunners at me even after Mr. Weasley had identified me and the rest of us I didn't really trust him to point a wand at me." Harry replied and Professor McGonagall took a long hard look at him before replying.

"Very well, Mr. Potter. Then I suppose that like most of the things associated with you the narrative of the incident circulating in the ministry is exaggerated." She said. "Then I suppose that Mr. Crouch didn't try to incite you either."

"Err…actually that he did." Harry replied.

Professor McGonagall raised her eye-brows more in surprise than anything else. "Well then I must say that I am glad that you did not yield to that provocation. But I would appreciate if you would please desist from announcing publicly that you happen to be afraid of me. A lot of parents were quite concerned about their children's mental-health under the 'reign' of a Deputy Headmistress who makes Harry Potter fear her. The same Harry Potter who went head to head with Bartemius Crouch."

"Err…but you are a strict disciplinarian and all. Didn't your image become more set or something. Beside I am afraid of you but I didn't mean mortally or something. I just meant that I am afraid of disappointing you." Harry replied with a small smile on his face but stopped the smile when Professor McGonagall neutral expression turned into a frown.

"_Sweet-tongue, Potter." _Ginny said over the link.

"It would sound much more believable Mr. Potter if you didn't routinely point swords at the school's governors and Professors or if you didn't have Christmas dinners or Italian dishes for breakfast after a Quidditch victory. And all of it right in my presence." She said and Harry was sure that he could see a small smile playing on her lips. Suddenly a loud knock was heard from the opposite side of the room and Harry supposed that Hagrid had arrived with the First-years. She made her way towards the door and received the thoroughly drenched first-years and then began giving them the customary speech about the four houses and the sorting.

"_Should I leave or something?" _Harry asked Ginny.

"_Well, she didn't ask you to leave so I suppose that you better stay." _Ginny replied back.

"_But I am supposed to be meeting Peeves right now." _Harry said.

"_Peeves, adores you Harry. He won't mind if you are a few minutes late." _Ginny replied.

Harry's conversation was interrupted by Professor McGonagall calling him over.

"Mr. Potter can you perform the drying charm?" She asked.

"Err…somewhat." Harry replied. "It hasn't been taught yet."

"Yes or No. Mr. Potter?" She asked again.

"Yes." Harry replied confidently.

"Very well, come here and dry these First years." Professor McGonagall ordered him. "I will be back shortly."

B—but I was supposed to meet someone." Harry spluttered out.

Professor McGonagall raised her eye-brows before replying. "Dry them out and then you can leave." She said as she turned and left the room.

Harry sighed and faced the first-years who were literally soaked to the skin. "All-right stand in a straight line. I will perform the charm and then you can move to the end of the line." Harry said as he moved towards them. Surprisingly all the First-years moved into a line probably within ten seconds. Harry moved towards the first one and performed the charm.

"_Arefacio_!" Harry performed the charm on the first one and then moved on. The First Years were all staring at him and Harry had a feeling exactly why but they didn't say anything and so neither did he. Within no time he had finished and he was free to go.

"Err…" Harry began eloquently as he addressed the First years. "I will leave now but Professor McGonagall would be back soon." He said and turned towards the door.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" It seemed that someone had finally picked up the courage to ask him a question.

"Yeah, I am." Harry replied but nobody seemed to ask any further questions so Harry decided to do so himself. "So do you have any questions about Hogwarts?"

"How are we sorted?" Somebody asked nervously.

"I won't spoil the surprise for you. But I can tell you that it is completely painless and rather easy." Harry replied.

"_Hey, you could have told them that they are supposed to wrestle a troll." _Ginny said over the link but Harry ignored her.

"How are the Professors?" A girl asked and Harry could almost see another Hermione in the making.

"_Naah, Hermione is one in a generation-kind." _Ginny replied.

"Well, they are all nice for most part. Professor Flitwick teaches Charms and is very likeable and you will learn a lot from him. Professor Sinistra teaches Astronomy and as long as you keep your heads in the stars she will be happy. Show respect to plants and you will be fine with Professor Sprout. Now Professor Binns is a ghost and he teaches History. You use those lessons to catch up with any homework that you are lagging in or catch up with sleep. I don't know who is teaching Defense this year because the Professors keep on changing every year." Harry took a small pause before continuing.

"Then comes Snape. He teaches Potions and he is an outright bastard. So my advice to you all is to read thoroughly through the entire first-year Potions book and frankly have it learnt by heart before you attend his first class. As a matter of fact if you haven't read it sit up tonight and start learning everything tonight itself. Then while you are brewing make sure that your concentration is solely on the Potion and on the ingredients. In fact make sure that you are familiar with the properties of all the ingredients before-hand. Actually haul yourself to the library first thing tomorrow and check out a book on the properties of basic Potions' ingredients and which ingredient's effect can be cancelled out by which other one. That way if you make a mistake while brewing you can correct the Potion yourself. But read the book on the ingredients thoroughly before you go about trying to correct your Potions. Remember Snape is an arse. You have to please him to extract information out of him. READ about the Potion you are to brew before-hand. He won't tell you to do so but he expects it. Ask one of the second years about the order of the Potions. He cannot change them as the difficulty and complexity goes on increasing with every Potion." Harry finished his lecture about Potions and realized that everyone was surprisingly hanging onto every single word that he had said and not surprisingly from the looks on their faces absolutely no-one had actually read about Potions before-hand.

"_Snape is going to kill you if these guys turn-up with their text-book on the tip of their tongues. It probably diminishes the power that he yields over nervous first years." _Ginny said over the link.

"_I know." _Harry simply replied before turning his attention back to the first-years.

"Professor McGonagall is the Transfiguration Professor and she is a strict disciplinarian and a hard taskmaster. She expects your best efforts everytime. Don't mess around in her class; you will regret-it or perhaps you won't live to regret it." Harry meant to stop there but couldn't help himself.

"Don't talk too much around her either. Professor McGonagall doesn't like talking too much and she transfigures talkative students into mice and sets the caretaker's cat onto them. It's literally like a race to death for talkative……"

"MR. POTTER!" It seemed that Professor McGonagall had returned.

Harry wasted no time and simply ran away from the room. He entered the Great Hall and the talking died down for a moment as everyone thought that the first-years had arrived but watching Harry hurry out the mutterings actually grew. Harry supposed that everyone must have been thinking about the Quidditch Cup situation. He ignored the mutterings and even the surprised looks on the faces of the staff-members and made his way through the doors of the Great Hall and towards the marble staircase.

Five minutes later he was inside Peeves' room and sure enough Peeves was waiting for him there and he had also got some parchment and ink and quills.

"Welcome back, Scarhead." Peeves muttered as Harry sat down on the chair.

"Thanks Peeves." Harry replied. "So Peeves what can you tell me about the TriWizard tournament and the logistics behind it? Also what can you tell me about any truncated inter-house Quidditch Cups?" Harry asked and sure enough ten minutes later he had more than enough information to chart out a reasonable time-table for the constricted Quidditch Cup to take place so that it concluded before Halloween the day on which the TriWizard tournament officially started.

"_You are not going to believe what just happened." _Ginny said.

"_What?"_

"_Well Professor Dumbledore announced the cancellation and everyone started booing and cat-calling and then it wouldn't stop until Professor Dumbledore fired some crackers from his wand." _Ginny said. _"But that is not all. Guess who the new Defense Professor is."_

"_Err…Sirius Black?" _Harry asked.

"_No, it's Moody. Mad-eye Moody!" _Ginny declared.

"_What? But I thought that he was paranoid and crazy."_

"_Obviously, Professor Dumbledore thinks otherwise. Anyways he just made the announcement about the TriWizard tournament. Are you going to talk him today or no?" _Ginny asked.

"_Yeah, I am coming over now." _Harry replied as he started walking towards the Great Hall.

"_By the way, the twins are bummed out that there is an age-restriction on the entry. They would have loved to get their hands on that 1000-galleon prize-money." _Ginny added.

"_I am glad actually. That way no-one would needle me about whether I am going to enter or not." _Harry replied.

"_You didn't want to enter?" _Ginny asked.

"_Naah, for once I think I will let the focus be on someone else." _Harry replied as he reached the swarm of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students heading towards their dormitories. Almost as soon as everyone spotted him they made way for him and some Gryffindors even slapped him on the back as he moved towards the Great Hall. He reached the Great Hall to find it nearly empty of students. The Professors were still seated at the High Table talking with each other. Harry spotted Professor Dumbledore talk with a man who had the most bizarre appearance ever.

His hair was grey and grizzled. The scars on his face were simply too many to count. It looked like a large chunk of his flesh had been blown away from his nose. The weirdest thing was his eye. One of his eyes was artificial. It was electric blue in colour and revolving around in the socket continuously. This man could only be Mad-eye Moody.

"_You missed the wooden leg." _Ginny added as Harry reached the High Table.

"What do want, Potter?" Snape sneered out the moment he spotted Harry.

"Good-evening Professor." Harry greeted genially though anyone could make out the artificial tone.

"Ah, Harry. Welcome back." Professor Dumbledore had spotted him. "You do seem to keep on missing the Welcoming Feasts year after year. Let me introduce you to Professor Moody." He said as Harry looked at him and found both his eyes staring at him intently.

"Err…" Harry began but Professor McGonagall cut in.

"Where were you, Mr. Potter?" She asked briskly.

"I—I was researching." Harry replied evasively. "I wanted to check out a few things."

"The library was closed, Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall replied. "Madame Pince was right here at the Welcoming Feast."

"I never said I was researching in the library." Harry replied with a smile.

"Potter, stop this big-headed nonsense." Snape cried out irritably.

"Err…actually I wanted to talk with you Sir." Harry said addressing Professor Dumbledore who looked quite surprised at that.

"About what, Harry?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Well, Sir the thing is that all the students would like to have the Quidditch Cup re-instated. I mean we all know that with the TriWizard tournament and all it would be very difficult to conduct it and all, but we would all really—really appreciate if the Quidditch Cup could actually be held this year as well." Harry said and realized that all the Professors were looking quite surprised at that.

"Well, Harry it is quite difficult to conduct the Cup alongside the TriWizard tournament. As a matter of fact it would be impossible to do so." Professor Dumbledore replied after a moment.

"Well actually Sir, if we have a truncated Cup it would be quite easily over before Halloween. Instead of all the four houses playing each other we could have two teams playing each other in a sort of knock-out and then the winners could meet directly in the finals." Harry suggested.

"That is an idea, Harry but that is not how Inter-house Quidditch Cups have been conducted." Professor Dumbledore replied.

"Err…actually during the war with Grindelwald in the year 1944-45 Hogwarts had a truncated academic year of only three months and yet the Quidditch Cup was held and in the same 'Semis—to—Final format that I mentioned earlier." Harry replied and the Professors looked quite stumped at that.

"What?" Harry said defensively. "I consistently top the History of Magic class."

"That you do, Harry. That you do." Professor Dumbledore said with a bit of amusement in his voice.

"Why are you putting this forth instead of the Head students?" Professor Flitwick suddenly asked.

"I have no absolutely no idea." Harry replied. "I was simply handed this parchment with this petition which had the signatures of all the students saying that they would all like to have the Quidditch Cup and it had apparently been decided that I would be the one to put forth that petition before the Head of the Houses and the Headmaster." Harry said as he handed over the parchment to Professor Dumbledore.

"So you let slip that the TriWizard tournament was to be reinstated this year." It was a statement not a question from Professor McGonagall.

"No actually I let slip that the Quidditch Cup was cancelled." Harry replied.

"_You are lying, Mr. Potter." _Ginny said over the link.

"_Yeah you have been a bad influence on me."_

"Well, Harry we will have to think over this." Professor Dumbledore replied as he handed over the parchment to Professor McGonagall.

"Please Sir what is there to think over. All the students want it. I don't think that the four houses have ever agreed so easily about anything. This is the first time since well I came here that the four houses have come together with a common aim. House Unity at it's best. It is a highly truncated version with only three Saturdays being involved. And they all…." Harry stopped as he realized what he was about to say.

"And what, Potter?" Snape sneered out.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Harry replied but a little too quickly that certainly caught everyone's attention.

"And what, Potter?" Snape sneered out again.

"Yes, Mr. Potter. What exactly does that refer to?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"_Yes, what Mr. Potter?" _Ginny asked with what Harry felt like peals of laughter at his discomfort.

"Err…well…it was…like…well Oliver Wood had been insisting all of last year that I should have tried to play for England inspite of my age and it seems that everyone in the castle believed absolutely believed him and after England were knocked out rather humiliatingly everyone was fixated on the thing that I should have tried and England might have had a better chance or something" Harry replied 'completely' uncomfortably.

"WHAT! The extent of your big-headedness never ceases to amaze me. Play for England…." Snape began scoffing but Harry interrupted him.

"Please don't waste your breath Sir. As a matter of fact I agree with you completely but only on this point. I am still way too good for any trick that the Slytherins might come up with." Harry replied.

"Well, Harry then we can't have everyone give you grief over your England's prospect." Professor Dumbledore began. He exchanged a look with Professor McGonagall who nodded after a moment and Snape, Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout followed suit. "I believe that is your confirmation. I shall make the announcement tomorrow at breakfast and the schedule shall be posted soon"

"Thank-you, Sir." Harry said before he started moving out of the Great Hall.

"Albus, I believe we do know who the Head-boy is going to be after three years." Professor Flitwick said as soon as Harry was out if the Great Hall.

"He will never make a prefect though." Professor McGonagall added. "Too many genes from his father."

"WHAT?" Snape cried out. "Potter as head-boy that is utter blasphemy. That imbecile as the Head-Boy! That boy is nothing but a nuisance and a trouble-maker."

"He might be a trouble-maker but he is a responsible trouble-maker as you ought to remember Severus." Professor McGonagall said rather harshly and it didn't take long for Snape to sneer out another counter-argument.

Albus Dumbledore sighed and sat down as he tried to tune out of the argument brewing between his Deputy and his Potions Master. The enigma of Harry Potter kept on escalating. If it wasn't enough that he could detect legilimency he had suddenly at the start of third year managed to apparently master some form of rudimentary Occlumency. If mastering the Patronus was no mean achievement conjuring three at a time was quite easily a record. Harry of course topped that by somehow producing a golden Patronus which managed to destroy dementors. Albus was yet to find a satisfactory answer to that. How Harry had managed to track Pettigrew down was a complete mystery as well but he had decided not to pry too much into it as he knew that if Harry didn't want to he wouldn't tell him the 'secret'. What amazed Albus was that Harry did not shy away from enunciating the mistakes that he made while going after Pettigrew that too in front of Severus Snape.

Albus had been quite surprised when he had heard about Harry's tiff with Barty Crouch when he and his friends were discovered at the scene of the Dark-Mark but he supposed that it was inevitable as Harry would have probably known that Crouch was largely responsible for Sirius Black being in Azkaban without a complete and full trial. But what surprised him even more was when he heard that Harry had actually managed to reign in his temper even in face of some obvious provocation from Crouch. Today was another surprise. It seemed that everyone cutting across house-loyalties believed in and trusted Harry to get things done for them. Yes, Harry was quite ready to be the Head Boy even at this very instant.

"_Hey Gin, are you sleeping already?" _Harry asked as he started making his way up the marble-staircase and towards the Gryffindor Tower.

"_Trying to." _Came Ginny's reply. _"I would have probably laughed at inappropriate times. Besides I already know the answer for which everyone is awaiting so eagerly downstairs."_

"_Okay. So what's the password anyways?"_

"_Balderdash."_ Ginny replied. _"Anyways see you tomorrow morning."_

"_Goodnight, Gin." _Harry wished before moving on towards the Gryffindor tower. Five minutes later he was standing in front of the portrait of the Fat-lady.

"Are you the person these idiots are waiting for?" She asked before Harry could give the password.

"Yeah, something like that." Harry replied.

"Well then give me the password and enter and put them all to sleep. The noise is giving me a headache." She said.

"Err…okay. Balderdash." Harry said and a moment later the portrait swung open and Harry entered the common-room and was greeted with complete and absolute silence and the entire house waiting with obvious anticipation.

"The answer is 'yes'." Harry said and a moment later the entire common-room burst into an enormous applause and Harry took the opportunity to slip towards the table where Ron and Hermione were seated.

"So you managed it mate. Congrats!" Ron replied solemnly as Harry settled down.

"So did you get to see Professor Moody?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah though I believe I didn't really get the 'show' as Hagrid put it." Harry replied trying to cover his tracks. A moment later the twins bounded over to extend their own version of congratulations which also included some sandwiches which they had nicked from the kitchens.

"Don't get too excited." Harry cautioned them. "It is not going to be a full season."

"What do you mean?" The twins asked as one.

"Well, it will be a kind of semifinals to finals kind of concept." Harry replied. "Two teams will square off against each other in two semi-finals and then there will be a final directly between the two winners."

"That's all-right Harry." Angelina said as she, Alicia and Katie came over. "Only as long as we win the first one though. Anyways we need a new keeper and a new captain."

"You are the captain." Harry replied instantaneously.

"That's not how it works." Angelina replied cautiously though it was clear that she was overjoyed at the prospect. "McGonagall appoints the captain and you are the best player on the team and most certainly the better orator."

"Naah, I would refuse it if she were to offer it to me. It would be a mistake to appoint me." Harry replied after a moment. "I know nothing of chaser-moves or chaser-formations or keeper-tactics or beater-tactics. All I know are the seeker moves. Hell I don't even know all the rules of the game. Besides you are way more passionate about Quidditch than I am. You would be the better captain. If you want I can give you tips about the pre-game speech and we would all be set." Harry finished and there was silence around the table.

"How in the world has Snape decided that you are big-headed?" The twins asked in a rather serious voice and everyone around the table broke into laughter.

"Why are the first-years reading their books on their first ever night here?" Hermione suddenly asked. Harry looked around and realized that the common-room had emptied out considerably and about ten First-years were huddled together in a corner reading books which Harry supposed had to be their First-year Potions text-book.

"Err…that would be my fault actually." Harry replied awkwardly and everyone turned around to look at him as if he had grown another head. "Well, I told them that Snape is an arse and they should be prepared for his lessons by making sure that they had the text-book read before they attended his first lesson. So that's what they are probably doing." Everyone stared at Harry with an open mouth for a few seconds before the twins spoke-up.

"Ha—Ha!" They began gleefully. "That's the most brilliant prank we have ever heard. Snape always intimidates first-years by asking them these questions and throws his shit at the First years. But now once again you have like a brilliant chess-master you have taken away his ability to throw shit. And the best thing is he can't even try and reprimand you for that or he will end up looking like a fool." The twins said as everyone started laughing and a few minutes later everyone broke-up and started heading towards their dormitories.

The next morning Harry woke-up early as usual and set-off for a jog. The storm had blown itself out and Harry was quite glad for that. He didn't really fancy having to run inside the castle on the first day of school itself. He returned back to the common-room after the jog still wondering how he was going to practice his kicks and punches. After-all Hogwarts didn't have any punching bags as any muggle-schools would have. Finally he decided that he would ask Hagrid whether he would do him a favour and pick it up from a muggle store.

The first lesson of the year was Herbology where they spent their time draining Buotuber-pus. The next lesson was Care of Magical Creatures and Hagrid the Gryffindors and Slytherins were all quite shocked to discover some weird animals that Hagrid called Blast-ended-Skrewts. The only positive was that they were not actually for the class but Hagrid had been told by Professor Dumbledore to apparently specially breed them and those serving detentions with Hagrid would have the 'pleasure' of taking care of them. Harry had a feeling that it wouldn't be long before he would be taking care of them for setting off Snape in one way or another.

It was before dinner that things got interesting. They reached the entrance hall, which was packed with people queuing for dinner. Ginny was already at the table and waiting for them to join her. They had just joined the end of the line, when a loud voice rang out behind them.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something.

"What?" said Ron shortly.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" said Malfoy, brandishing a copy of the _Daily Prophet _and speaking very loudly, so that everyone in the packed entrance hall could hear. "Listen to this!

**FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC**

It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, _writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. _Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

Malfoy looked up. "Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" he crowed.

Everyone in the entrance hall was listening now. Malfoy straightened the paper with a flourish and read on:

Arnold Weasley was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer _Daily Prophet _questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.

"And there's a picture, Weasley!" said Malfoy, flipping the paper over and holding it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house - if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

Ron was shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at him.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," said Harry. "C'mon, Ron. . ."

"_Harry what is exactly going on?" _Ginny asked. She had apparently being concentrating on something else.

"_Nothing I will sort this out and be there in a minute."_

"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" sneered Malfoy. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"

"Malfoy, I were you I wouldn't criticize others' parents." Harry said as he started walking towards Malfoy. He stopped only a few feet away from him and began speaking a low voice so that only Malfoy could hear him. "Your father is well a piece of dung and was dismissed as one of the school's governor. To top it off as you might remember from the World-Cup he is scared to death of a single word. Voldemort. Your mother…well does she even speak? She looks too dumb to even string two words together. So I would advise you to keep your mouth shut and go about doing your business." Harry said and then turned around. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Malfoy taking out his wand which he thought was rather foolish as there were at least a hundred witnesses around.

"Don't fire that spell, Malfoy." Harry said without turning around. "Slytherins are not supposed to be that foolish and reckless. That honour rests with us Gryffindors. You won't be able to carry that tag well and disgrace us." Harry said and moved towards the Great Hall again and surprisingly Malfoy didn't fire a spell. Harry supposed that Malfoy never intended Harry to realize that he had drawn out his wand.

The next two days passed relatively peacefully except for the fact that Snape seemed to be in an unbelievably bad mood through the two days. His mood didn't improve when all the Gryffindors managed to brew a passable potion in their first class. But the fourth year Gryffindors were all eagerly waiting for Professor Moody's class. The twins and Ginny had given him their stamp of approval as the coolest though probably not the best Defense Professor. Harry had actually tried to listen to Ginny's lecture but Professor McGonagall class was rather demanding rather supposed to be demanding as he was well past the level of fourth years in transfiguration.

Professor Dumbledore had of course announced the re-instatement of the Quidditch Cup and promised to have the time-table up soon. Angelina, as Harry had predicted was appointed the Gryffindor captain and she had already set Saturday as the day for keeper-trials.

Come Thursday the Gryffindors were practically brimming with excitement at the prospect of attending Professor Moody's lecture. So far they had been hanging onto any small bit of information that came their way. The twins had somehow managed to deduce that the artificial eye was actually magical and could see through wood. Professor Moody's 'war-cry' of sorts was 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE' which he uttered at least once every hour. So everyone obviously was expecting a thrilling lesson and they were not disappointed. He announced that he would be teaching about fighting curses in the following months and he started off with the three Unforgivables. To Harry's surprise he announced that he would be demonstrating the three curses.

"_How in the world is he allowed to do that?" _Harry asked Ginny.

"_Didn't he say that he is demonstrating them on spiders?" _Ginny asked. _"That is allowed. Besides he is a legend. You read the transcripts about all the death-eater trials that Ragnok had sent you. He is responsible for half of the death-eaters in Azkaban.. Not many people in the ministry would have the guts to try and send Moody to Azkaban."_

"_Oh. By the way don't you ever listen in to your classes?" _Harry asked Ginny.

"_I already know everything from the Third Year." _Ginny shot back. _"It's like a very 'slow' revision class for me. It is bloody frustrating I can tell you."_

"_Hmm…" _Harry simply replied as he thought over it.

Professor Moody meanwhile proceeded to demonstrate the Imperious, the Crucitarius and the Avada Kedavra on the spiders. It was after the demonstration of the killing curse that the attention shifted towards Harry. He was after-all the only known survivor of the killing-curse. But luckily Moody did nothing more than mention him and them moved onto dictating notes on the Unforgivables.

Harry woke up on Saturday morning and went for his regular jog. He had decided that he was going to ask Hagrid about the punching bag after Gryffindor's Quidditch trials. Since the entire Quidditch season from start to finish would only consist of barely seven weeks all the four houses had been assigned specific windows on the first week-end to conduct their trials. Gryffindor were up first on Saturday at exactly 8:00am and they had until 10:00am to pick a new keeper. Harry supposed that with only one vacancy they would be done rather quickly.

Harry returned from the jog and was surprised to find Ron up an ready and with a broom in his hand and looking as nervous as hell.

"You going to try out as well, mate?" Harry asked as he walked up to Ron.

"I—I don't k—know." Ron nervously spluttered out and Harry raised his eye-brows questioningly at that. He had never seen Ron this nervous. Harry almost smiled as he smiled down. It seemed that the Ron who always seemed to be over-awed by his brothers' achievements was back. The insecure and unsure Ron was back. Harry took a deep breath before launching into what he hoped would be a pep-talk for Ron.

At 8:00am the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team minus a keeper was present at the pitch. As it turned out only three students turned-up for the try-out and Ron was quite easily the best among the lot. It looked like Harry's pep-talk had indeed infused some confidence and self-belief into Ron. Ron outflew and out-keeped the other two hopefuls by some distance. After a joyous declaration from the twins that they would not have to disown Ron anymore the Gryffindors headed back to the common-room with the twins promising to get some food for them.

The rest of the week-end passed relatively incident-free except for Ginny dragging Harry to the Room of Requirement and insisting that they start practicing for their Animagus form immediately. Harry also asked Hagrid whether he would consent to get him the punching bag from a muggle store and Hagrid agreed practically instantaneously and promised Harry that he would get the punching-bag within the week. Harry also met with Argentum again. He rarely managed to see Argentum anymore as Argentum had started to journey into the forest again and would come back to Hagrid's stable only once in a while.

On Monday Harry after classes to find a number of students gathered around the notice-board.

"What are they all excited about?" Harry asked no-one in general.

"_Quidditch Cup time-table has been declared." _Came Ginny's mental reply. Harry spotted her in a corner and went over and flopped onto the seat next to her even as Ron and Hermione struggled to read the notice.

"So what is the time-table?" Harry asked.

"We play Ravenclaw on the second Saturday of October and Slytherin plays Hufflepuff the following Saturday." Ginny replied. "Then the final will be played on Halloween. I heard Professor Flitwick say that it would be a sort of entertainment for the visitors."

"Halloween?" Harry asked dejectedly knowing that Ginny had certainly not made a mistake. His Halloweens in the wizarding world had not been so great starting with his parents' murders to the troll-incident to the petrification of Mrs. Norris to Sirius breaking in to supposedly murder him. Yeah he had too many 'bitter' Halloweens. It certainly wasn't his favourite day. His thoughts were interrupted by the looks of annoyance that Ginny was throwing at him and also by Ron and Hermione coming over.

"So do you know the schedule?" Ron asked excitedly as he and Hermione came and sat down. Harry simply nodded.

"Is it such a good idea having the final on Halloween?" Hermione asked. "I mean what if the match does not finish before the feast when the champions are to be announced. Besides won't students need time to impress the judge?"

"Professor Dumbledore would have thought about it." Harry replied. "The only problem would be that our victory-celebrations would have to be truncated." Harry added with a smile on his face and Hermione frowned in response while the rest laughed. They were interrupted when one of the seventh year prefects came over and handed over summouns from Professor McGonagall.

"What have you done now, Harry?" Hermione asked with a frown.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Harry replied honestly. He could sincerely think of no reason why he would be summouned by his head of house.

"_Can you think of anything, Gin?" _Harry asked as he made his way out of the portrait-hole.

"_Nope, unless Hagrid told her about the punching bag." _Ginny replied.

"_Naah." _Harry replied. _"Hagrid said that he would keep it quiet and he said that he would set it up in the stables so that I would get some privacy and it wouldn't disappear under the snow at anytime either."_

"_Then I suppose that you will have to find it yourself." _Ginny replied and Harry nodded mentally before continuing on towards her office. He reached the office a few minutes later and knocked and entered it. Upon entering Harry almost groaned out when he saw a clearly incensed and riled Snape in addition to Professor McGonagall.

"Mr. Potter…" Professor McGonagall began but Snape cut in.

"POTTER!" He screamed out. "How dare you try to undermine my authority? How dare you? What…how dare you…"

"You repeated the same question thrice and I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, Sir." Harry interrupted him honestly quite bewildered.

"_The first-years, Harry. The first-years." _Came Ginny's voice and suddenly Harry understood the reason for Snape's anger and he couldn't help but smile internally.

"YOU know exactly what I am talking about Potter." Snape sneered out. He seemed to have got his anger under some resemblance of control. "They don't respect me at all and my Slytherins told me that you gave them a speech before their sorting and described me in foul-terms."

"Mr. Potter we are waiting for a reply." Harry did not reply immediately prompting Professor McGonagall to address him.

"Err…I did describe you but certainly not in foul-terms. Unflattering at best and nothing false surely."

"Mr. Potter…" Professor McGonagall said dangerously.

"That's the truth, I swear." Harry replied. "All I said was, 'Sna—Professor Snape is an absolute slave-driver and you need to be prepared before attending his lectures' and I also told them a few tricks to be able to brew potions properly." Harry replied firmly this time.

"THAT'S UNDERMINING MY AUTHORITY POTTER." Snape screamed out and this time Harry couldn't help but smile out at him. "Do you think that this is funny, Potter?"

"That's not undermining your authority, Sir." Harry began replying calmly. "That is known as a senior student looking after junior student. All I did was make sure that you would not be able to unfairly intimidate the first-years. At least the Gryffindors spent their first night at Hogwarts reading up on the Potions' and Herbology text-book. It made brewing Potions easy for them and consequently for you as you didn't have to teach complete dunderheads as you always complain about. In fact I think that you should be paying me for……"

"That's enough Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall cut in. "Severus?" She said after a moment. Snape did not reply instead he simply bounded out of the office.

"Well I must be getting good. This is probably the first time that I have been summouned here and am getting off without any punishment." Harry said to Professor McGonagall as he began turning around to head for the door.

"I am not done, Mr. Potter." She said. "Please take a seat." She said and Harry mutely sat down. Professor McGonagall took almost an entire minute before starting again.

"What are your plans about the TriWizard championship?" She suddenly asked throwing Harry off track.

"Err…are you actually talking about the Quidditch Cup because I am sure that I am not of age and hence not allowed to enter the TriWizard tournament." Harry replied.

"That has never stopped you before Harry." Professor McGonagall said and Harry noted the use of his first name.

"_Ginny?" _He called out for help.

"_Are you planning on entering?" _She asked.

"_Eh…I never even gave it a thought." _Harry replied honestly. _"But no, I don't want to enter."_

"_That is exactly what she wants to hear." _Ginny simply replied.

"Err…I have never broken rules for the sake of it Ma'am and frankly I wouldn't mind a year where the focus is not on me." Harry replied honestly.

"A lot of prize-money is involved." She added almost testing if Harry would yield to any temptation.

"My parents left me a lot of money." Harry simply replied. "And I am not really greedy or something."

Professor McGonagall nodded before replying. "Do I have your promise Harry that you would not even try and enter the TriWizard tournament because I know very-well that even though Albus will ensure full-protection and it will be good enough for all other students you are too resourceful and bright for your own good." She finished on a note as if being bright and resourceful was a bad thing.

"I meant what I said about not wanting to disappoint you." Harry said before continuing. "I swear to you that I will not try and enter the TriWizard championship. And to tell you the truth the thought of entering had not even entered my mind before you brought it up. Anyways I promise that I will stay as far as away from that neutral judge whoever he…she is….." Harry let that hanging as he realized that the neutral judge could not be a person if she was afraid that he would manage to con the judge. "The judge is not a person is he?"

"Perhaps." Professor McGonagall said evasively. "Your promise better be good, Harry." She said.

"It will be." Harry replied before getting up and heading towards the door. He had almost reached the door when Professor McGonagall called out.

"And Harry, please do make sure that the Quidditch Finals draw to a close before the feast on Halloween." She said and Harry could only smile in response.

The next few weeks passed in a real blur. Angelina had scheduled a grueling sequence of practices and after a week or two the efforts were starting to show especially as far as Ron was concerned. It was clear that he had considerable talent for keeping but it was his nerves which were the problem. One miss or one barb from the twins and his confidence would nosedive. Angelina had literally turned into such a fanatic that the twins had in frustration charmed the back of her Quidditch robes to read Wood instead of Johnson. But she took it more as a compliment than anything else.

The only sour note for Harry was when he received a reply to his letter to Sirius. Sirius had taken the pain in Harry's scar rather seriously and had written back saying that he would be coming back to England immediately. Harry didn't like that but he knew that no matter what he said Sirius wouldn't stay out away from England. So he accepted it but sent another letter exhorting him to be careful.

The biggest surprise was when Professor Moody announced that he would be putting everyone under the imperious curse and they would have to try and fight it off.

"Isn't that illegal?" Hermione cried out.

"Ya Granger it is. So?" Professor Moody asked in a gruff voice.

"S—so wouldn't you…" Hermione began but Professor Moody cut in again.

"Dumbledore wants you learn to fight them. Would you like to learn when a dark wizard is using them on you, Granger?" Professor Moody asked. "Of course you can leave if you have a problem."

Inspite of the situation a small ripple of laughter could be heard through the classroom. Everyone knew that Hermione would rather take-up divination again than missing a lesson from Professor Moody.

Moody began to beckon students forward in turn and put the Imperious Curse upon them. Harry watched as, one by one, his classmates did the most extraordinary things under its influence. Dean Thomas hopped three times around the room, singing the national anthem. Lavender Brown imitated a squirrel. Neville performed a series of quite astonishing gymnastics he would certainly not have been capable of in his normal state. Not one of them seemed to be able to fight off the curse, and each of them recovered only when Moody had removed it.

"_Gin, is that curse going to effect you too if I can't throw it off?" _Harry suddenly asked.

"_I—I think so." _Ginny replied nervously. Harry suddenly was completely nervous about it. If Moody asked him to do some silly thing in the class and if Ginny were to do the same in her class it wouldn't take long for someone to put two and two together. But he didn't have much time to think over it.

"Potter!" Moody suddenly growled out. "You next."

Harry moved forward into the middle of the classroom, into the space that Moody had cleared of desks. Moody raised his wand, pointed it at Harry, and said, _'1mperio!"_

It was the weirdest feeling he had ever felt. It was like a badly-tuned radio was being played at the highest possible volume in his head and it hurt. Harry didn't know how the Imperious was supposed to feel but instinctively he felt that this certainly wasn't the feeling.

Suddenly somehow out of the maze he heard Moody's voice only it was like hearing a person talking on a phone-line laced with disturbances. 'Jump on the desk.' Harry heard Moody say and he knew that there was no-way in hell that he was going to do that.

"_Thank Merlin for that." _Ginny said over the link.

Suddenly Harry felt the noise increasing in his head and he heard Moody asking him to jump on the desk. Harry knew that he wasn't going to jump and as soon as he felt absolutely sure about it the noise in his head went away. He was about to say so when he couldn't help but messing around a bit.

"I can't hear you. Please talk loudly." Harry said out aloud in a very robot-like monotone. He tried to keep his face straight and barely managed it as Ginny was laughing away in Potions and Harry was sure that she would be exercising Hagrid's Skrewts. Harry tried to look straight but saw out of the corner of his eyes everyone staring at him in wonder. Suddenly Professor Moody shook himself out of the shock and cursed Harry again.

"Imperio!" He cried out. The badly tuned loud radio returned in Harry's head and this time Harry somehow managed to shut it almost instantaneously. "JUMP ON THE DESK!" Professor Moody screamed out this time and Harry felt a smile creep onto his face. Professor Moody had actually thought that Harry couldn't hear.

"I am sorry. The desk is too high for me to jump onto." Harry said in the same robotic monotone again and he could see shock and astonishment on Professor Moody's face once again.

"Imperio!" Professor Moody cried out again and this time Harry managed to 'switch off' the radio almost instantaneously. "JUMP ON THE DESK."

"No thank-you. I will desist. Professor McGonagall does not like it when I am up to monkey-like antics." Harry replied in the same tone and then turned around and started moving back towards where Ron and Hermione were standing.

"POTTER! Come here right now." Professor Moody said and this time Harry turned around but with a smile on his face.

"I don't think you managed to control me, Sir." Harry said as he turned around with a smile on his face. Moody looked stunned for a minute before a broad twisted and gnarled grin.

"That was a bloody good effort from you, Potter. They will have problems controlling you. Fifty points to Gryffindor." He announced and then called out Parvati Patil. Hermione who had been unable to throw away the curse continuously badgered Harry about how he had managed to do so but Harry dimply couldn't explain her anything. After-all the feeling that she had felt on being cursed were completely opposite to what Harry had felt. It finally took Ron who started arguing with her about the ethics of cursing students that she finally focused away from Harry.

As the weeks went by until Gryffindor's match against Ravenclaw Harry felt himself being swamped by school-work. He used to barely get homework out of the way before Ginny would drag him away for practicing transfiguration. He had gotten so good at transfiguration that he could practically sleep in Professor McGonagall's lectures and yet manage to perform the task set to him perfectly. Whenever he was not studying or practicing with Ginny, Angelina filled in those times with Quidditch practices. She was now insisting that Harry learn to look for the snitch and disturb the chaser formations. Harry wasn't really that good at multi-tasking but Angelina insisted on practicing it. He had been so busy that he realized that it had been an entire month but he hadn't visited the kitchens to visit Chucky. So far whenever the team missed meals, which was a very regular occurrence the twins would take the responsibility of getting food for them so Harry had missed out on that as well. He had decided that no matter what he would visit the kitchens as soon as the Ravenclaw match was out of the way.

Finally the day of the Ravenclaw match arrived and just as everyone had expected Harry made light of the task. Cho Chang was a good flier but as Lee Jordan put it she was a wand-light compared to Harry's floodlights.

Ten minutes into the game and already six goals had been scored by Gryffindor. Meanwhile Harry was circling the pitch. He had actually began the game with interrupting the Ravenclaw chasers but he soon realized that the girls and the twins were more than adept at doing that themselves so Harry went around looking for the snitch. Cho Chang was good and Harry wondered for a moment whether he should try for a Wronksi Feint on her but eventually decided against it.

Harry saw the golden shimmer at the centre of the pitch fifteen minutes into the game and ten seconds of furious flying later Harry was holding the struggling snitch in his hand. Gryffindor had won the match 220 to nothing. Ten seconds later he found the rest of the team converging on him and Angelina had actually taken Wood's responsibility of slapping Harry's back to numbness.

"All-right guys, party Gryffindor common-room RIGHT NOW!" The twins cried out as the cheering Gryffindors caught up with them. The biggest surprise of the day however was reserved for when Harry visited the kitchens. Harry had barely entered the kitchens when he had the wind knocked out of him by a small elf literally crashing headlong into his stomach.

"The Great Harry Potter decides to visit Dobby." A high squeaky voice called out and the identity of the house-elf was solved. "Dobby is wanting to visit Harry Potter but he is being afraid and now the Great Harry Potter himself comes and visits Dobby. Harry Potter is indeed the greatest.

Harry could feel Ginny laughing and he sent her annoyed glance which only resulted in her starting to laugh out loudly.

"Err…hello Dobby." Harry greeted the elf who had finally disengaged from Harry's midriff. "What are you doing here?" Harry simply asked and Dobby burst into an explanation which lasted for over ten minutes. As it turned out Dobby wanted pay now as he was a free-elf and not many rather no wizarding families were ready to do that. So finally at the start of the year he came to Professor Dumbledore who offered to pay him for a job. So Dobby was working at Hogwarts now. Finally after what felt like a hundred promises of visiting him again Harry and Ginny started walking towards the Gryffindor common-room again. Harry red-faced due to the number of compliments that Donny simply couldn't stop showering on him and Ginny was red-faced as well as she tried desperately not to laugh at Harry's discomfort.

A week later Slytherin defeated Hufflepuff and with the final on Halloween the tensions between the two houses were slowly but surely rising and a few minor spats had started to break out in the corridors. Harry had a feeling that the staff especially Professor McGonagall was now wishing that it would have been much—much—much better if Slytherin and Gryffindor were not the two to clash in the final.

Angelina meanwhile was clearly under tremendous pressure and it was starting to have a telling effect on her temper. She kept on shooting her head at everyone in the team for the smallest mistakes and the twins borne the brunt of it. She had gotten into the habit of arranging a practice at the shortest notice. Her argument about it was since they had one kind of 'normal' weather conditions during their regular practice they were not used to play under different types of weather. So one morning Harry was woken from his bed at 5:30am because it was raining outside and she wanted to practice in the rains. But even though everyone grumbled about Angelina having gone mad no one ever complained about it. Everyone was pretty desperate to win. Harry had a feeling that none of them would ever be able to live down the 'shame' if you might of losing to Slytherin in front of other schools.

About three days before Halloween a notice was put up in all the common-rooms about the imminent arrival of the Durmstrang and the Beauxbaton delegates.

**TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT**

**THE DELEGATIONS FROM BEAUXBATONS AND**

**DURMSTRANG WILL BE ARRIVING AT 6 O'CLOCK ON FRIDAY THE 30TH OF OCTOBER. LESSONS WILL END HALF AN HOUR EARLY --**

"Brilliant!" said Ron after reading it. "It's Potions last thing on Friday! Snape won't have time to poison us all!"

**STUDENTS WILL RETURN THEIR BAGS AND BOOKS TO THEIR DORMITORIES AND ASSEMBLE IN FRONT OF THE CASTLE TO GREET OUR GUESTS BEFORE THE WELCOMING FEAST.**

"That means that only a week left for the Finals as well." Harry heard an older boy say. He turned around and Harry realized that the boy was actually a Ravenclaw seventh year.

"The match sure has taken precedence over the TriWizard Tournament hasn't it?"Harry asked no-one in particular but Hermione as usual answered the question.

"It has only because it is Slytherin against Gryffindor." Hermione replied. "Mind you it is not that everyone is not interested and excited about the Tournament and the fact that it is being held after 300-odd years. But it is just Slytherin v/s Gryffindor is quite big too. Not to mention that it probably is the last chance for the houses to go head to head. After that we would all be expected to cheer and support the Hogwarts' champion cutting across house-loyalties. Which…"

"…is just not normal and bound to be a bit weird." Ginny finished the sentence.

"Exactly." Hermione agreed. "The finals are just an opportunity to get the house-rivalries out of the system before we try to put up a united front." Hermione said and Harry couldn't really fault the logic.

"Well I don't care what is expected from us but I absolutely refuse to support a Slytherin champion." Ron shot back and Harry sighed as he knew that this was going to lead to another round of arguing between his friends.

The appearance of the sign in the entrance hall had a marked effect upon the inhabitants of the castle. During the following week, there seemed to be only two topics of conversation, no matter where Harry went: the Quidditch Cup final and the TriWizard Tournament. Rumors were flying from student to student like highly contagious germs: who was going to try for Hogwarts champion, what the tournament would involve, how the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang differed from themselves.

The only rumour which turned out to be true however was the fact that Malfoy it seemed had got a Firebolt for himself. Malfoy wasted no time parading the Firebolt around which Harry thought was not only childish but also bad Quidditch-logic. Harry knew it for a fact that if Malfoy had shown up with a Firebolt straight on the day of the finals he would have been quite surprised and that would have thrown quite a few plans of his out of the window and would have put Malfoy at a tremendous advantage. Malfoy's Firebolt put Angelina in a further tizzy as now she was afraid that the entire Slytherin team would be on Firebolts. That meant that the Gryffindor team found themselves practicing three times in five days before the final.

Another rumour that was doing the rounds was that the twins were planning on entering somehow. Angelina however set that straight and asked them decide whether they wanted to concentrate on the match or on entering and after considerable thinking they chose the match and promised Angelina that they would not spend time trying to cook up ways of entering.

Harry noticed too that the castle seemed to be undergoing an extra-thorough cleaning. Several grimy portraits had been scrubbed, much to the displeasure of their subjects, who sat huddled in their frames muttering darkly and wincing as they felt their raw pink faces. The suits of armor were suddenly gleaming and moving without squeaking, and Argus Filch, the caretaker, was behaving so ferociously to any students who forgot to wipe their shoes that he terrified a pair of first-year girls into hysterics.

Other members of the staff seemed oddly tense too.

"Longbottom, kindly do _not _reveal that you can't even perform a simple Switching Spell in front of anyone from Durmstrang!" Professor McGonagall barked at the end of one particularly difficult lesson, during which Neville had accidentally transplanted his own ears onto a cactus.

When they went down to breakfast on the morning of the thirtieth of October, they found that the Great Hall had been decorated overnight. Enormous silk banners hung from the walls, each of them representing a Hogwarts House: red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff, and green with a silver serpent for Slytherin. Behind the teachers' table, the largest banner of all bore the Hogwarts coat of arms: lion, eagle, badger, and snake united around a large letter **H**.

There was a pleasant feeling of anticipation in the air that day. Nobody was very attentive in lessons, being much more interested in the arrival that evening of the people from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang; even Potions was more bearable than usual, as it was half an hour shorter. When the bell rang early Harry, Ron and Hermione made his way to the common-room and deposited their bags. On the way down Harry and Ron were way-laid by the twins.

"Get your brooms you two and put on the spare Quidditch robes." They said.

"Why?" Harry and Ron asked simultaneously.

"Angie's orders." Fred replied in a defeated tone. "Turns out we haven't practiced in windy weather and it is quite windy right now. So she wants to make full use of it." George added.

"What?" Harry asked surprised. "Professor McGonagall is going to kill us."

"No, Potter. She is not." It was an irritated Angelina who had apparently come up the stairs probably to look why she was missing more than half her team. "I have express permission from McGonagall to practice at anytime to acclimatize to the weather as long as it does not interrupt anybody's lessons or practices and does not break the evening curfew. Now get those brooms and meet me in the common-room." She ordered before turning around.

"I don't think McGonagall had this in mind though." Ron grumbled as he started making his way towards the dormitory.

"Let's go." Angelina said as soon as she spotted the boys entering the now empty common-room.

"_Don't use the Entrance Hall." _Ginny warned Harry. _"McGonagall is already annoyed that her Quidditch team seems to be late."_

"Are we going through the entrance hall?" Harry asked. "Because no matter what McGonagall said she is not going to appreciate this." 

"We can't take-off from windows like you can, Harry." Katie replied.

"I wasn't suggesting the windows. I was talking about taking off from the Astronomy Tower." Harry said and everyone seemed to agree with that.

So five minutes later they found themselves on the Quidditch field and Angelina was quite right, It certainly was quite windy though Harry wasn't sure that it was worth the big firing that was sure to come from Professor McGonagall. But once they started practicing everyone was focused on only the practice and nothing else. Though Harry felt the excitement from Ginny when the Durmstrang and the Beauxbaton contingents arrived about half an hour into the practice. Ginny had refrained from giving Harry a running commentary but she couldn't control her excitement a few minutes after the Durmstrang party arrived.

"_HARRY!" _She exclaimed. _"You are not going to believe who turned up with the Durmstrang contingent."_

"_Who did?" _Harry asked after he finished the dive and caught the practice snitch for the third time in the practice.

"_It's Krum! Victor Krum!"_

"_The player Krum?" _Harry asked.

"_Trust me it is." _Ginny replied.

Harry found it a bit difficult to concentrate on practice after that small piece of information. He was sure that the rest of the team would be thrown off-guard if they knew that the hero of the Quidditch World Cup would probably be in the audience the next day. Finally after Harry caught the snitch for the third time, Angelina blew the whistle and everyone descended onto the pitch.

"_Maybe you should warn them about it." _Ginny suggested.

"_Maybe." _Harry gave a non-committal reply.

"Great practice, everyone." Angelina looked quite happy. "If we play in the same vein tomorrow nobody can stop us." She finished and everyone cheered.

"Wait!" Harry said as everyone started removing their gloves and all. "Just remember that no matter who would be in the crowd tomorrow we are all the same and playing the same Slytherin team whom we have beaten three times in a row. The players we would be playing against will be the same the audience does not make any difference to us."

"What are trying to say Harry?" The twins asked the question that was bound to be on everyone's minds.

"Well I am just trying to say that there are bound to be some very…" Harry began but Angelina interrupted him.

"Cut the crap, Potter. Who is going to be in the crowd?" She asked brusquely.

Harry took a deep breath before replying. "Viktor Krum. Bulgaria's Viktor Krum." Harry said and was met with a stunned silence.

"He's still in school?" Ron asked surprised.

"But how do you know that?" Alicia asked.

"I had over-heard McGonagall and Dumbledore talk about it when I went to Professor McGonagall's office over that first-year advice thing." Harry replied and waited as the others processed the entire information.

"It DOES NOT make a difference." Angelina said pretty firmly. "We are the same and the opponents are all the same. Anybody who feels extra pressure, come to me and I will WHOLLOP you. Is that clear?"

"Yeah her right hook can be quite damaging." Fred said and everyone else burst into nervous laughter and started making their way towards the castle.

As they passed the lake they saw an enormous ship which Harry knew, belonged to Durmstrang. In the distance Harry could just make out Hagrid practically wrestling with what looked like white winged horses. They reached the doors of the Great Hall and Harry could hear murmurs of conversations which were louder than usual. Cursing his luck that he happened to be the first to reach the door he pushed them open and entered the Great Hall and almost immediately the entire attention of the Great Hall was turned towards them.

"_Where are you seated, Gin?" _Harry asked as he put his head down and started walking towards the Gryffindor table.

"_About at the centre but we have space, well for all of you actually." _ Ginny replied. _"Everyone is under the impression that you and the twins were off planning a prank."_

Harry didn't reply but kept on walking and a moment later found himself seated right next to Ginny and in front of a clearly fuming Hermione.

"That was very irresponsible of you and very…" Hermione began but Ron who sat down a moment later cut in.

"Don't Hermione. Angelina is the captain we are merely the puppets under he directions." Ron said and that seemed to have satisfied Hermione for the time-being as both Ron and Harry started pretty much tearing into the food around them. The menu seemed to be quite expansive and Harry was eager to try out but five minutes into the meal Angelina appeared next to them and warned them not to eat too much. Harry desisted from eating anymore and instead settled for looking around the Hall which seemed much more crowded than usual even though there were only twenty extra students.

At the end of the meal a voice said, "Excuse me, are you wanting ze?"

It was a girl from Beauxbatons who according to Ginny had laughed during Dumbledore's speech. She had along sheet of silvery-blonde hair fell almost to her waist. She had large, deep blue eyes, and very white, even teeth.

Ron went purple. He stared up at her, opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out except a faint gurgling noise.

"Yeah, have _it," _said Harry, pushing the dish toward the girl.

"You 'ave finished wiz it?"

"Don't fret over it nothing French appeals to me, except Savate." Harry replied quite truthfully and a bit impatiently. He certainly hadn't liked the bouillabaisse and was done with the meal but just waiting for Professor Dumbledore to declare the Tournament open.

"Yeah," Ron said breathlessly. "Yeah, it was excellent." Harry snorted knowing that Ron barely had a spoonful before declaring that he wasn't having it again.

The girl looked strangely at Harry before picking up the dish and then carried it carefully off to the Ravenclaw table. Ron was still goggling at the girl as though he had never seen one before. Harry started to laugh. The sound seemed to jog Ron back to his senses.

"She's a _veela!" _he said hoarsely to Harry.

"Of course she isn't!" said Hermione tartly. "I don't see anyone else gaping at her like an idiot!"

But she wasn't entirely right about that. As the girl crossed the Hall, many boys' heads turned, and some of them seemed to have become temporarily speechless, just like Ron.

"I'm telling you, that's not a normal girl!" said Ron, leaning sideways so he could keep a clear view of her. "They don't make them like that at Hogwarts!"

"You might actually be right." Ginny said. "Too many boys are staring at her and what seems like almost involuntarily."

"Crouch and Bagman are here too." Hermione suddenly said out of surprise and sure enough the two of them could be seen at the High Table.

"_Are you going to be all-right, Harry?" _Ginny asked almost instantly.

"_Yeah. Professor McGonagall would kill me if anything were to get out of hand." _Harry replied.

Once the golden plates had been wiped clean, Dumbledore stood up again. A pleasant sort of tension seemed to fill the Hall now. Harry felt a slight thrill of excitement, wondering what was coming. Several seats down from them.

"The moment has come," said Dumbledore, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. "The TriWizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket -- just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation" – there was a smattering of polite applause

- "and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports." There was a much louder round of applause for Bagman than for Crouch, perhaps because of his fame as a Beater, or simply because he looked so much more likable. He acknowledged it with a jovial wave of his hand. Bartemius Crouch did not smile or wave when his name was announced.

"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the TriWizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts."

"_Have we heard the name Karkaroff somewhere?" _Harry asked Ginny.

"_I think so but I can't place it." _Harry replied.

At the mention of the word "champions," the attentiveness of the listening students seemed to sharpen. Perhaps Dumbledore had noticed their sudden stillness, for he smiled as he said, "The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."

Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, now approached Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels. It looked extremely old.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," said Dumbledore as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways. Their magical prowess - their daring - their powers of deduction - and, of course, their ability to cope with danger." At this last word, the Hall was filled with a silence so absolute that nobody seemed to be breathing.

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," Dumbledore went on calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the TriWizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore now took out his wand and tapped three times upon the top of the casket. The lid creaked slowly open. Dumbledore reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames. Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet carefully on top of it, where it would be clearly visible to everyone in the Hall.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete."

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," said Dumbledore, "I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line.

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Just another thing tomorrow will be the finals of the Inter-House Quidditch Tournament. It is between Gryffindor and Slytherin and I would like to extend an invitation to all our guests to witness the match at 11:00am tomorrow. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

Harry was up in an instant knowing fully well that Professor McGonagall would be onto them in a flash. The rest of the team seemed to have been thinking along the same lines as within a few seconds they were all up and heading towards the doors of the Great Hall. But Professor McGonagall was quicker and she had blocked them off.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Potter?" She asked and Harry stared at her.

"B—but I am not even the captain." Harry replied defensively.

"You seem to the choice of advocate for all the students." Professor McGonagall said as if that explained everything.

"Err…okay." Harry replied and the rest of the team was smiling to his irritation. "Well it was windy and we haven't practiced in windy conditions and we broke none of your rules about practice so…"

"Save it, Mr. Potter" Professor McGonagall said. "Just win tomorrow. Now get going." She said and surprisingly with a smile.

The Quidditch team laughed and then they all started making their way out of the Hall. They reached the doors the very same time that the Durmstrang students led by Professor Karkaroff reached them. Harry stopped to let him walk through first.

"Thank you," said Karkaroff carelessly, glancing at him. And then Karkaroff froze. He turned his head back to Harry and stared at him as though he couldn't believe his eyes. Behind their headmaster, the students from Durmstrang came to a halt too.

Karkaroff's eyes moved slowly up Harry's face and fixed upon his scar. The Durmstrang students were staring curiously at Harry too. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw comprehension dawn on a few of their faces. The boy with food all down his front nudged the girl next to him and pointed openly at Harry's forehead.

"Yeah, that's Harry Potter," said a growling voice from behind them.

Professor Karkaroff spun around. Mad-Eye Moody was standing there, leaning heavily on his staff, his magical eye glaring unblinkingly at the Durmstrang headmaster. The color drained from Karkaroff's face as Harry watched. A terrible look of mingled fury and fear came over him. That's when Harry made the connection.

"You are Igor Karkaroff." Harry blurted out loudly in an astonished voice.

Karkaroff turned around and looked at Harry with a look of unmingled surprise and even shock. "Yes, I know who I am." He said curtly.

"B—but y—you are a…" Harry began but suddenly realized that only his lips were moving but no sound was accompanying them. He looked around and saw Professor McGonagall and Snape with wands pointed at him. Harry supposed that they had used a silencing charm on him. That irritated Harry and he willed himself to break it and he could almost feel magic flowing between him and Ginny. He could feel literally his energy increase as the charm began wearing off.

"_What's happening Harry?" _Ginny asked in slight panicked voice.

"Nothing." Harry replied loudly as he felt the charm wear-off.

Harry looked around and realized that a lot of students were staring at him with confused looks on their faces. A crowd had built up. Karkaroff and Moody were staring at him clearly surprised that he had managed to break the silencing charm. Suddenly he felt himself being pushed towards the door and realized that it was Snape. It took Harry a few seconds to realize what was happening but then he shook his hands off. 

"I can walk on my own." Harry said curtly.

"Minerva's office Potter." Snape said in unless he was mistaken was actually a completely normal tone.

"I have a match to play tomorrow." Harry continued to talk in the irritated tone.

"You will do as you are told, Potter." Snape's sneer was back as he continued to literally push Harry.

"I have not committed any offense, Snape. You on the other hand just cursed an unarmed student and without any provocation. In the muggle-word you would be on your way to the jail right now." Harry replied. The anger and frustration over the fact that another convicted and self-confessed death-eater was walking free but Sirius was running around as a dog and doing god knows how.

Snape suddenly pushed Harry onto a wall and held him there. They were in an empty corridor now and there were no witnesses.

"Let go of me, Snape or…" Harry left that hanging.

"_Don't do something stupid Harry." _Ginny warned.

"Or what, Potter?" He sneered back. "You don't even have your wand out."

That pushed Harry over the edge. He dropped his broom and with his free left hand landed an uppercut on Snape's jaws. It didn't have much power and Harry was sure that Chris would have laughed at his poor attempt but it did the job. It surprised Snape whose grip loosed and a moment later Harry wriggled himself free and this time he drew out his wand within an instant.

"That's what." Harry replied a bit smugly as he bent down and lifted his broomstick.

Snape looked murderous but didn't say anything but instead glared at Harry with enough venom to kill a hippogriff. His wand was still however pointed at Harry. But before it could all escalate, (though Harry was sure that Snape would take him down rather easily) Harry heard footsteps and Professor Dumbledore stepped into view and a few moments later was standing next to the two. He took out his wand and erected a transparent bubble-like enclosure around the three of them which Harry supposed was a privacy charm or something.

"What are you doing? Harry? Severus?" He asked in a surprised voice. Harry lowered his wand and turned to look at Professor Dumbledore.

"What is a self-confessed death-eater doing out of Azkaban? Harry asked softly but coldly. "And why can't my godfather get a simple trial?"

"Harry it is not that simple." Professor Dumbledore began replying but Harry cut in.

"Please cut to the chase Sir." Harry said calmly.

"Igor Karkaroff provided information about unknown and hidden death-eaters in exchange for a pardon." He simply replied.

"But you can't get Sirius even a trial?" Harry asked.

"It is very complicated Harry…" Professor Dumbledore began explaining but Harry cut in.

"If anything happens to Sirius, I will hold you and only you responsible." Harry said curtly and coldly and in retrospect perhaps harshly before turning around and streaking off towards the Gryffindor tower.


	25. The Goblet of Fire

Harry continued to practically streak through the corridors

Harry continued to practically streak through the corridors. His temper was well beyond a breaking point. His worry about Sirius had somehow managed to multiply in the last few minutes. He knew that it was irrational but he couldn't help it. The unfairness of it all was just glaring in his face and right he just wished that he could kick something or even 'someone'. Harry reached the corridor outside the common-room to find Ginny waiting for him. She came towards him and gave him a hug. Harry hugged her tightly and soon he felt his temper ebb away a bit.

"Are you going to be all-right?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah." Harry replied. "But it sucks you know."

"It does." Ginny replied in a tone that left no room for doubts about her feelings about the entire thing.

"I think I will go bed now." Harry said. "Too many things are going on and I need to concentrate on beating Malfoy on a bloody Firebolt."

Harry reached the common-room to find it packed with excited students. Luckily no-one except those around him had noticed the exchange and they were not to ask anything before the match for sure. So within minutes of reaching the common-room, Harry found himself in his bed waiting for sleep to overcome him.

But sleep was hard to come by as he thought over the few minutes after dinner. He was still irritated and angry and annoyed and what not at Professor Dumbledore but he couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Harry knew for a fact that no other person except Professor Dumbledore would have taken his word and believed about Sirius' innocence just—like—that. Not many would give a werewolf a chance to attend school. Yeah he was simply directing his own frustrations at Professor Dumbledore. That could not possibly be healthy. Pyrrhic or not it did give Harry some satisfaction.

Harry woke up at the crack of dawn the following day and to his surprise Ron was not present in the dormitory. After showering and collecting his Quidditch apparatus he made his way to the common-room. The entire team was already assembled and by silent consent they made their way to the Great Hall. By 7:00am all the Professors had arrived and they all looked rather tense. Snape arrived with his Slytherin scarf planted around his neck.

"Ah, Potter." He began sneering. "I hope you do play competitively today. After-all Mr. Malfoy will be on a Firebolt as well. Your only advantage has been eroded away. Not to mention that Mr. Krum did consent to give a few tips to Mr. Malfoy as well. Please try and fly competitively. Hogwarts would like to show some resemblance of a fight to our guests." Snape announced pompously. Harry could not believe that this was a Professor of the school. Harry was about to reply when the rest of the team actually burst into outright laughter. Harry looked away from Snape and his team-mates who were laughing quite sincerely.

"Salazar Slytherin would be rolling in disgust in his grave right now, Sir." Harry said and everyone looked at him surprise. "The Head of his house hasn't shown even as ounce of shrewdness and astuteness in handling a simple matter of a teeny tiny Quidditch match." Harry said rather bravely.

"What are you talking about Potter?" Snape sneered out.

"If I had a brand new Firebolt and my opponents didn't know about it; I would have ensured that not a single person outside the team would be in the know about the Firebolt. That way when it was revealed a few seconds before the match that I was on a Firebolt it would have had a telling effect on the confidence of the opposition. But you allowed Malfoy's ego to take precedence and thus threw away a tactical advantage down the drain. And top of it you probably never ever realized it either." Harry replied calmly and in an even tone.

Snape it seemed did not have a reply for that and actually looked stumped. He simply sneered though the sneer was more comical than anything and then proceeded towards the High Table.

"And you wonder why we call you 'Snape-tamer'." The twins exclaimed and the team burst into laughter.

As the time went on the Great Hall started filling-up. The excitement in the air was palpable. Many things were happening around but neither Harry nor the rest of the team noticed it too much. It looked like the Durmstrang and the Beauxbaton contingents submitted their names to the goblet and Harry noticed a few students in Hogwarts robes submit their names too. Finally at 9:00am Angelina had them move to the Quidditch pitch. As they started making their way out many of the Gryffindors cheered and so did a few Hufflepuffs. The Slytherins meanwhile booed out.

"_All the best, Harry." _Ginny wished him mentally. _"Don't let Malfoy get to you."_

Finally at 10:00am and a brief but intense pep-up talk from Angelina later Harry found himself on the pitch standing opposite a smirking Malfoy who was holding out his Firebolt. To his and everyone's surprise it was Ludo Bagman and not Lee Jordan who was doing the commentary. Harry tuned out of it pretty quickly.

"You don't have an advantage now, Potter." Malfoy drawled out. "I am on a Firebolt too."

"Money can buy you a Firebolt but not the skill and the expertise needed to really put it through its paces and extract the maximum out of it." Harry retorted. "It's no better than a Nimbus 2001 for you." Harry said as he heard Madame Hooch ask the two captains to play fairly and then blew her whistle.

In an instant Harry had shot into the air was fastest among everyone. He reached a comfortable altitude and then began circling around the pitch. A few minutes later Malfoy flew right next to him and began cutting across Harry's path.

"Stop being childish, Malfoy." Harry said as he easily avoided Malfoy for the nth time.

"You are not going to win today, Potter." Malfoy cried out.

And he wasn't completely wrong. The Slytherin beaters were playing brutally. While Fred and George were quite good they couldn't cover everyone all the time and the Slytherin beaters were on faster brooms. Ron was holding up quite well though he had let through a couple of goals. The score after an intense twenty minutes was 30-40 in favour of Slytherin.

That was when Harry decided that he needed to disturb the Slytherin chaser plays and that was exactly what he did. Now with Harry flying expertly around them the Slytherin chasers were distracted and were thus easy preys to the Gryffindor girls who were now impeccable. Ron too pulled of a couple of good saves when the Slytherin chasers did manage to get through Harry. Harry also kept an eye peeled out for the snitch but it hadn't made an appearance so far. About an hour into the game the score was now 110-50 in favour of Gryffindors and the Slytherins were becoming more and more physical.

Suddenly out of the corner of his eyes, Harry saw Malfoy starting to dive towards the ground an expression of concentration on his face. An instant later Harry was streaking off towards Malfoy and a few seconds later Harry caught up with him and went into the dive himself. And that was when the alarm-bells started ringing in his head. There was no-way that he could have caught up so easily considering that Malfoy was on a Firebolt too. Harry peeled out his eyes and he could see no snitch either. Malfoy was feinting.

Almost instantly Harry pulled out of the dive and then threw himself flat on the broom and began flying towards the stand that was the farthest from his starting point. It took a moment for Malfoy to realize that Harry had pulled out of the dive. He too did the same and then began chasing Harry. Instead of slowing down Harry increased his speed. Having no other option Malfoy increased his speed too and was now flying in a straight-line at the fastest speed that the Firebolt could offer.

Harry allowed Malfoy to pull-up alongside and then went up to maximum speed himself even as he tried to cut across Malfoy. As a result instead of concentrating on the flight-path Malfoy was now concentrating on avoiding Harry. Harry heard Bagman mention something about the snitch and he could almost feel Malfoy tense that much more. He was literally subconsciously following Harry.

Harry turned slightly towards the Slytherin stands where he could see Snape and even the Durmstrang students looking at the two fascinated. He kept on trying to cut across Malfoy and then about five seconds before he would hit the banisters on the Slytherin stands he tried to maximize the speed and then shot like a bullet towards the stand. Malfoy did the same and now they were both hurtling towards the Slytherin stand at breakneck speed. The fastest speed that any broom in the world could offer.

A second before he would have crashed into the wooden-banisters Harry jerked his broom-handle upwards and was clear of the stands. Malfoy however was nowhere that alert. A moment after Harry had pulled out of that breakneck horizontal hurtle Malfoy crashed with a dull thud into the wooden banister. Malfoy broke cleanly through it and just like Alvin back in the First year, found himself almost cleanly crashing through and breaking portions of the wooden stands. A few seconds later Malfoy was as good as embedded in the wooden stands rather whatever was left of the small section of the stands.

The Slytherins in the stands had tried to jump out of the way at the last instant and most had been successful though some did have minor injuries. Malfoy however was truly and surely out of the match and probably into the Hospital Wing. For a moment Harry felt bad about injuring him but then he had no problems squashing those feelings. Meanwhile Harry saw Snape trying to extract Malfoy and his broomstick from the wooden mess. Harry had a feeling that the Firebolt would need a lot of servicing before it got back into a 'flyable' condition.

In the meantime the roar that had begun in the stadium after Malfoy's crash was still resounding in the stadium. Harry could hear Bagman's excited voice over the roar.

"Merlin! Can the boy fly!" Bagman repeated that at-least three times. "Are you watching this Mr. Krum? If you thought that the chaser interrupts were good what would you call that Wronksi Feint? It is…." Harry tuned out again and began looking for the snitch.

It was as if the snitch too sensed that there was to be only one winner as five minutes later and with Malfoy's broom still in the mess Harry saw the golden snitch fluttering above one of Gryffindor's goal-posts. He streaked after it and a few seconds later caught the snitch to a thunderous applause from the crowd. Gryffindor won 260 to 50.

Harry was soon engulfed by a teary-eyes Angelina who hugged him and then the twins followed into the big mid-air hug. Ron, Alicia and Katie followed suit and more than a few sobs and screams of elation later they all flew towards the staff-stand where Professor Dumbledore was holding the giant Inter-house Quidditch Trophy which he gladly handed over to Angelina who took it teary-eyed and then passed the Trophy around before it came to Harry's hand. He held it high as the Gryffindors gave another mighty roar and then beckoned Professor McGonagall to fly over the centre of the Gryffindor crowd. This time Professor McGonagall hitched a ride on George's broom and then gladly accepted the trophy from Harry.

"All-right everyone. PARTY in the tower RIGHT NOW!" Fred cried out as Harry landed on the ground and began receiving congratulatory back-slaps almost immediately.

Hermione and Ginny finally caught up with Harry and Ron and the four started making their way towards the castle. Ron was absolutely ecstatic about the victory and could hardly stop talking about Malfoy smashing into the Slytherin stands. Harry simply smiled as he listened to Ron describing Bagman's commentary as Malfoy flew behind Harry literally enchanted. They entered the Great Hall and for the first time that day Harry noticed the decorations in the Hall. A cloud of live bats was fluttering around the enchanted ceiling, while hundreds of carved pumpkins leered from every corner.

It was Halloween and the day's connotation registered to Harry for the first time since the morning and Harry's physical and mental disposition plummeted to literal misery. Ron didn't notice it and went on talking about Quidditch but Ginny certainly did and not surprisingly the shift in Harry's mood wasn't missed by Hermione's sharp eyes either.

"_Harry?" _Ginny said as Harry stopped in his tracks.

"I—I will just be around." Harry replied as he turned around and walked out of the Great Hall.

"_I just want to be alone Gin." _Harry mentally pleaded.

"_I am going to follow you Potter." _Ginny replied back firmly with a hint of irritation.

"_Give me an hour, Gin. Only an hour." _Harry pleaded. _"Then you can…"_

Ginny agreed to that so Harry continued on his way towards the lake. He found a shady spot that he had seen many times during his morning runs and then settled down with his back to the tree. He couldn't believe it. For the third straight year he had absolutely forgotten about Halloween and it's significance until well the fact that it was Halloween was glaring right at his face. His parents had died for him today and he did not even have the courtesy to remember that day.

"All right that's more than ENOUGH POTTER." Ginny practically screamed out as she stood in front of Harry with her hands on her hips. Harry could almost see traces of Mrs. Weasley in that stance.

"Will you please stop going down that path of self-pity for Merlin's sake." Ginny half pleaded half ordered. "This is the second year in a row that you are going down that very line. It is unreasonable and borders on ludicrous and comical.

"But I forgot…." Harry began again but Ginny spoke out mentally and forced Harry to stop.

"_C'mon Harry." _Ginny said firmly but tempered down her tone as she sat down next to him. _"Please let this Halloween be different. Your parents would not have wanted to go down this path of self-pity and guilt. Do you honestly think that every Halloween they would have wanted you to wallow around in misery as a way to show them your respect? Besides what better way to pay obeisance to your parents then winning the Quidditch Cup." _Ginny tried to encourage him.

"_My mother would not have enjoyed it too much I guess." _Harry replied with a wry smile. He certainly couldn't ignore Ginny's argument. _"But I guess my dad wouldn't mind it too much."_

"_Actually the way Professor Lupin painted, your dad he would rather have you play a prank on the school or something instead of wallowing away in gloomy misery." _Ginny said with a smile.

"_Yeah I suppose." _Harry replied. _"But I can't help feeling guilty that I don't remember them so much…I mean…they gave up their lives for me and I am not even grateful about it. I barely remember that they are dead unless someone mentions Halloween. It's like I have learnt to live without them and I wonder whether I should be……"_

"_STOP being a fool, Potter." _Ginny said rather forcefully. _"They did not give up their lives so that you wallow in some weird kind of guilt. They would have wanted you to be happy and grow up to be a good person. That's what my parents used to tell me when I was a kid. Mum used to tell me that no matter what I should grow up to be a good person. That is what all parents want. Your parents would not have wanted you to constantly remember them and feel sad about them not being present. You are being ridiculous. You were fifteen months old when they passed away, you can't possibly remember anything about them. It is bloody tragic but the bloody truth. But it does not mean that you have forgotten them. The first thing that you asked Remus Lupin was about your parents. Now cheer-up. You are being ridiculous." _Ginny finished rather firmly and Harry couldn't help but get out of the gloomy funk that he had got himself into. He still was sad but wasn't depressed anymore.

"You know, I haven't even visited their graves yet." Harry mentioned casually. He wasn't miserable anymore but he couldn't help but think about his parents.

"I didn't know it but I did suspect it." Ginny replied and then answered the question that Harry was bound to ask. "Knowing your relatives I doubt that they would be too eager to take you to a wizarding cemetery."

"Yeah. Wish I could visit it sometime though." Harry said.

"Maybe you could ask dad to take there during the Christmas vacation." Ginny suggested.

"Maybe. But I don't want to be any bigger burden than I already am." Harry replied quite honestly.

"Merlin! Are you in a funk today or what?" Ginny said partly irritated partly amused. "My parents love you. Mum considers you to be a seventh son and as the twins point out her favourite one already. They would never think of you as a burden."

"Maybe they would have a different opinion after they learn a few things that I have done last year." Harry said.

"Naah." Ginny replied pretty confidently. "Dad might be working for the ministry but he is well aware of its shortcomings. Neither of my parents is like Percy. She might not say so openly but frankly if anything mum would probably be even more impressed with you. Freeing Sirius is the kind of that thing that her younger brothers Fabian and Gideon Prewett would have done. Foolish but brave and stupid but the right thing to do."

"Your mother has brothers?" Harry asked surprised. "How come I have never heard about them?"

"Had brothers." Ginny simply answered. "They were killed by death-eaters. Mum never talks about them but Bill once told us about them. They were only auror trainees but yet went down to fight when a family was attacked. They apparently even managed to distract the death-eaters and allowed the family that was attacked to escape but paid with their lives when more death-eaters arrived. Mum was rather devastated. She was really—really attached to her kid-brothers."

"I—I never knew." Harry replied. "Is that why Fred and George have names that begin with F and G?" Harry asked after a few moments.

"No idea." Ginny replied. "None of us have had the guts to actually ask mum or even dad about it." After that Harry and Ginny fell into a comfortable silence. As the afternoon wore on the Sun disappeared behind some clouds and soon Harry snoozed off and was joined by Ginny a few minutes later.

Harry was woken up a few hours later by water drops falling on his eyes. He woke up and realized that it was raining rather drizzling gently. Ginny was asleep too only she was using Harry's lap as a pillow and for some reason that warmed his heart. She looked very peaceful sleeping and Harry could probably see her sleeping for a long time but they needed to get back into the castle. The Sun had almost gone down and Harry could see the lights from the castle in the distance. He supposed that the Halloween feast was already underway. 'Great' he thought another feast that he was going to miss. Actually he wasn't feeling that sorry. He wasn't in a mood to sit through a feast. Someone could tell him the champions any other time.

"_Wake up, Gin." _Harry gently said and Ginny stirred a little. A couple of minutes and a few mental nudges later Ginny was finally awake.

"Do all you Weasleys sleep so deeply and heavily in the afternoons?" Harry joked.

"Hey! You fell asleep before me and I followed you only because I couldn't leave you all alone asleep here by the lake." Ginny replied indignantly.

"Whatever…But we need to get going." Harry said with a smile. "The feast is probably already underway though I really don't want to go to the feast. We can eat in the kitchens though."

"Sure but how?" Ginny asked. "We would have to go through the Great Hall."

"Not if we ride the broom and enter the castle from the first floor window and then use the storeroom entrance." Harry suggested as he began mounting his broom.

"Sure." Ginny replied. "As long as you don't crash the broom." She joked.

Harry didn't reply but simply raised his eyebrows as he mounted his Firebolt and signaled Ginny to mount it as well. Five minutes later they were seated around a table in the kitchen with the over excited and overzealous Dobby rushing around to feed them as much as possible. Chucky did look on disapprovingly but did not try and stop Dobby. Harry was eating through his third treacle tart and laughing at Dobby's antics when the kitchen portrait was thrown open and in stepped a clearly fuming but surprisingly stricken Professor McGonagall.

"HARRY!" She exclaimed as she started walking towards him. "WHAT are you doing here and why were you not at the feast and why are you still in your Quidditch robes?"

"Err…" Harry began eloquently as usual.

"Harry realized that it was Halloween only after the match was over and well he really wasn't up to a celebration or anything." Ginny replied in Harry's stead. Harry saw the anger in Professor McGonagall's eyes abate a little but the stricken almost panicked look on her face was still visible.

"Err…is anything wrong Ma'am?" Harry asked. "Did Sirius Black break into the castle again?" Harry tried to joke but realized that it certainly wasn't a good time to joke.

"Kindly follow me, Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall's professional tone was back. "Miss Weasley I would appreciate if you made your way straight to the common room." She said briskly before turning around and heading out of the portal.

"_What the hell is going on now?" _Harry asked.

"_No idea. You might want to follow her. I wouldn't want to test her temper." _Ginny said as Harry picked up his broom and made his way out of the portal himself. Professor McGonagall was waiting for him outside the door and as soon as she saw him started making her way towards the Great Hall.

"_Maybe Malfoy complained about the Wronksi Feint." _Harry theorized.

"_At least come up with a rational reason." _Ginny shot back.

"_Well that is the only thing that I can think of right now." _Harry replied.

"_You could ask her you know." _Ginny suggested.

"Err…Ma'am what has happened and how did you find me?" Harry asked remembering the look on her face as she came into the kitchens. She knew for sure that Harry was in there. The only sure shot way of knowing was by the use of Marauder's Map and it was currently locked in his trunk.

"Considering that you were not at the feast there was a very good chance that you would be in the kitchens." She replied.

"But why were you searching for me?" Harry asked again.

"I believe that there are persons more qualified than me to answer that." She replied.

"Eh?" Harry replied confusedly. "This isn't about err 'him' err last year's him is it?" Harry asked dreading the worst.

"This has absolutely nothing to do with your godfather." Professor McGonagall replied as she walked past the High Table and stood in front of a door. "Please answer all the questions you are asked honestly. I only hope that you have kept your promise." She said mysteriously before opening the doors and entering the room.

Harry had barely started pondering over her last comment when he entered the room and noticed about fifteen-odd persons all staring intently at him. Practically the entire Hogwarts' staff was there in addition to the towering Madame Maxime and Karkaroff. Standing to a side apparently in the middle of a discussion were Ludo Bagman and Bartemius Crouch. To complete the 'jamboree' Harry could also see Krum, the veela-girl and Cedric Diggory standing near the fireplace.

"HOW did you do it, Potter?" Snape sneered out even as Harry was processing all the visuals from around the room.

"Do what?" Harry asked back.

"Stop your nonsense and tell us how you did it." Snape ordered.

"Severus." Professor Dumbledore addressed Snape. His tone was laced with a mild warning. "Harry do you know why you are here?"

"_Ginny?" _Harry asked desperately even as he couldn't think of anything.

"_The entire TriWizard team is there, Harry. With the three champions." _Ginny replied.

"_Yes that means that all the three champion's slots have been taken." _Harry replied.

"Err…none at all Sir." Harry replied quickly as he realized that he hadn't replied for quite sometime. Almost immediately Harry could hear laughs and scoffs around the room.

"_Ginny I think that…" _Harry began but was cut off by Professor Dumbledore.

"Harry, your name came out of the Goblet of Fire." He said.

"Eh?" Harry exclaimed confused. "How could my name come out? I never entered." Harry tried to make sense of the happenings around him.

"_Harry! That means that you are a champion." _Ginny exclaimed in alarm.

"Oh please, Potter!" Snape exclaimed. "You didn't enter on your own. Then you must have asked someone else to do it for you. YOU have always considered rules beneath you."

"What!" Harry practically screamed out. "I never entered it. Nor was I….." Harry tapered off as he realized that Cedric was probably standing there as a Hogwarts' champion.

"Err…how did my name come out?" Harry asked Professor Dumbledore. "Isn't Cedric the Hogwarts' champion?"

"Your name came out fourth in order after the expected three names." Professor Dumbledore replied.

"How is that possible?" Harry asked.

"That is exactly what we would like to know, boy." Karkaroff spat out.

"I have absolutely NO IDEA." Harry replied truthfully. "How would I know?"

"Because YOUR name came out from the goblet, Potter." Snape screamed out.

"I didn't do it." Harry insisted. "How could I even know what to do? And why in the world would I want to enter the TriWizard tournament? I face enough difficult, dangerous and life threatening tasks in my everyday life as it is. I don't need a bloody tournament to prove myself. And just as I told Snape back in first year I am already bloody rich and bloody famous! Give me one good reason for trying to get into the damn competition." Harry yelled out.

Nobody spoke for a few seconds and then the veela-girl took a shot. "Z'est honor for our schools and us. Z'est a chance to earn glory for our school."

Harry simply shot a look at her which would have made Snape proud. It clearly said that Harry thought that she was a wholesome idiot. Madame Maxime and the girl were looking at Harry more surprised than anything else. In fact the girl looked completely shocked and exchanged surprised looks with her Headmistress. Harry looked around and realized that no one was actually saying anything. Harry spotted Crouch and surprisingly he was completely silent.

"_But it did, Harry." _Came Ginny's frantic voice. _"So someone did enter you but why?"_

"But he 'as to be lying." Madame Maxime burst out. Snape was now shaking his head, his lip curling.

"No I am not." Harry replied irritably. He was finding it more and more difficult to control his rising temper. "How could I have even the crossed the age-line or how could I have arranged for my name to come out as the fourth champion?"

"You are the only one who stands to gain from it, boy." Karkaroff retorted angrily. "You would have known how to do it. So stop playing dumb."

That pushed Harry over the edge.

"You of all the persons, Mr.—Professor Karkaroff should be the last person to give me that advice." Harry spat out rather coldly. "Me playing dumb is rather essential for your continued….."

"Mr. POTTER!" Professor McGonagall was fuming. Karkaroff meanwhile had recoiled as he understood the implications of the statement and Harry saw almost everyone in the room besides the three champions suck in a breath. Everyone knew exactly what Harry was implying.

"I liked you the moment I saw you, Potter." Harry heard Professor Moody's voice and he jumped. He hadn't spotted Professor Moody who was lounging in the shadows. "Potter has very little to gain from it. But my theory about someone…."

"Enough of your paranoid conspiracy theories, Moody." Karkaroff who seemed to have gained his voice back spat out.

"What conspiracy theory?" Harry asked confused.

"Nothing to worry about Harry." Ludo Bagman spoke up for the first time. "Old Moody seems to think that someone entered your name as the only participant from a fourth school and fooled the Goblet into choosing you hoping that you would perhaps be injured in the process. But that is just paranoid old Moody…."

Bagman continued talking but Harry wasn't listening anymore. He looked at Professor Dumbledore who was looking at him. Professor Dumbledore's face didn't betray any emotions but it was clear that he was serious and worried. Harry flicked his eyebrows in question and received a gentle shrug of the shoulders which didn't confirm Moody's theory but neither was it discounted.

"_Moody could be right you know." _Ginny said. _"Sure he is paranoid and all but he is the best in the business."_

"_He could be right." _Harry said. _"This wouldn't be the first time that someone is out to injure me or frankly get me killed."_

Harry focused his attention on the room again and realized that Madame Maxime and Karkaroff were arguing about something with Professor McGonagall.

"I won't participate." Harry said loudly and everyone turned their attention to him.

"Are you completely STUPID, Potter?" Snape sneered out. "Where were you when the Headmaster mentioned the binding magical contract part?"

"Give me some credit, Sir. I do after all top your class regularly." Harry replied irritably. "I didn't enter my name so how does the binding contract apply to me?" Harry asked and it was clear that no one had really thought about that aspect. There was silence in the room for a few moments someone spoke up.

"That is not how it works, Potter." It was Bartemius Crouch who spoke in a brisk businesslike tone. "Until the late 1500s it was common practice to have all the students from each school to apply. Naturally it was found logistically impossible to arrange for each student from the three schools to enter their names individually. So the Heads of the three schools submitted the roster of their respective charges and I can assure you that the binding contract certainly applied then as well." Crouch explained and the small glimmer of hope that Harry had begun to feel disappeared pretty quickly.

"You will have to participate, Harry." Professor Dumbledore spoke up. "There seems to be no way around it."

The days after his name came out of the Goblet of fire were quite interesting and had it not been for the support shown by his friends and the Gryffindor house he would have found them very difficult to survive. The Gryffindors refused to believe that he wasn't responsible for it. All the Weasleys and Hermione did but even the twins were rather happy that a Gryffindor had a chance rather than 'pretty-boy' Cedric. The Slytherins of course wasted no time in throwing insults left right and centre but Harry found them more childish than anything else. He hadn't expected anything else from the Slytherins. The only reaction which hurt him the most however were from the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws who seemed to believe that Harry was being nothing more than a glory-seeker.

In view of everything and the fact that his presence in the Great Hall invariably led to a spat between the Gryffindors and the rest of the houses Harry had started taking meals in the kitchens and was now moving around in his invisibility cloak. Hermione and surprisingly the twins were adamant that now that Harry was going to have to participate he might as well try and win it. So they were helping him all out to prepare for the first task which was to be held on the twenty fourth. Since they didn't know what Harry was exactly going to face for now they were simply practicing charms that might help him.

Ginny and Hermione had both panicked at first after taking in Moody's theory but channeled that panic into trying to figure out who might be responsible. So far the only suspects that the six had managed to come up with was Karkaroff. He was the only one who had anything to gain from Harry's death.

The worst part was however Hermione insisted that Harry write to Sirius about being entered into the Tournament. Harry hated doing it and knew that Sirius would probably blow a gasket with worry.

Funnily it was the first double potions after Halloween that Harry was dreading. Knowing the new-found Gryffindor attitude of not allowing Snape to throw shit at them Harry had a feeling that at the end of the double-potions someone was probably going to end-up dead.

When the trio arrived at Snape's dungeon after lunch, they found the Slytherins waiting outside, each and every one of them wearing a large badge on the front of his or her robes. He saw that they all bore the same message, in luminous red letters that burnt brightly in the dimly lit underground passage:

**SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY-- THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION!**

"Like them, Potter?" said Malfoy loudly as Harry approached. "And this isn't all they do - look!" He pressed his badge into his chest, and the message upon it vanished, to be replaced by another one, which glowed green:

**POTTER STINKS!**

The Slytherins howled with laughter. Each of them pressed their badges too, untilthe message _POTTER STINKS _was shining brightly all around Harry. He felt the heatrise in his face and neck.

"Oh _very _funny," Hermione said sarcastically to Pansy Parkinson and her gang of Slytherin girls, who were laughing harder than anyone, "really _witty."_

"Want one, Granger?" said Malfoy, holding out a badge to Hermione. "I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it, you see; don't want a Mudblood sliming it up."

Some of the anger Harry had been feeling for days and days seemed to burst through a dam in his chest. He had reached for his wand before he'd thought what he was doing. People all around them scrambled out of the way, backing down the corridor.

"Apologize to her, Malfoy or I swear you will regret it." Harry said coldly.

"_Harry what is going on?" _Came Ginny worried voice but Harry ignored her.

"Harry!" Hermione and Ron both said warningly.

"Go on, then, Potter," Malfoy said quietly, drawing out his own wand. "If you have the balls." Malfoy baited Harry.

"_Don't do it Harry." _Ginny said.

Harry looked at Malfoy in the eye but to everyone's utter surprise lowered his wand. "You have five seconds Malfoy. If you haven't apologized till then, I assure you that I will make your life in Hogwarts a living hell." Harry said evenly but clearly Malfoy wasn't impressed.

"What is going on here?" It was Professor Snape who had arrived before Malfoy could reply. But surprisingly nobody answered nor did anyone take their eyes off Harry and Malfoy.

"I will not apologize, Potter." Malfoy replied. Harry did not reply but simply smiled and unexpectedly so did the Gryffindors. No one had forgotten what had happened to Lockhart and Harry had known Lockhart only for a single day. Five minutes later and twenty points from Gryffindor for not answering the class was seated.

"Antidotes!" said Snape, looking around at them all, his cold black eyes glittering unpleasantly. "You should all have prepared your recipes now. I want you to brew them carefully, and then, we will be selecting someone on whom to test one. . ."

Snape's eyes met Harry's, and Harry knew what was coming. Snape was going to poison _him. _Harry couldn't help but smile a bit. The last time his potion was incorrect was back in the first year. Ten minutes into the Potion making Harry realized that he had the first opportunity to stick to his promise. Harry had so far used 'nettles', 'lovage' and 'scurvy-grass' in the Potion. He knew it for a fact that if 'hellebore was added to this mixture it would react badly and explode. Ten seconds later after making sure that Snape's attention wasn't on him Harry banished a small amount of hellebore right towards Malfoy's cauldron. Harry's aim was true. It took the ingredients couple of moments to react and then: **BOOM**!

The cauldron exploded and since Malfoy liked to surround himself with all the Slytherins, they were the only ones drenched in the liquid and almost instantly they all started to sport boils on the spots where the liquid had struck them. Not surprisingly they started screaming out in panic and the Gryffindors who were shocked for a few moments burst into laughter. Snape tried unsuccessfully to bring the class under control but since the Slytherins were now rushing out of the class he had no option to go after them and make sure that they did make it safely to the Hospital Wing. He did give the Gryffindors a deadly glare before leaving but that was all he could do as the screams somehow seemed to increase in volume as the echoes started building up.

Finally after a few minutes the laughing subsided and almost as one everyone turned to look at Harry. Ron and the others had large smiles plastered on their faces but Hermione was frowning.

"_That was rather mean, Potter." _Ginny admonished Harry but he could feel a bit of amusement in her voice as well.

"I don't ever roll back on my promises." Harry simply said as he swung his bag over his shoulders and started walking out of the class and started heading towards the Gryffindor tower. He made it to the couch and since he had over two hours before the next class he decided to take a nap.

"_Lucky dog!" _Ginny who was sweating out in Herbology remarked. Harry simply laughed and settled onto the couch.

His nap however was interrupted by an irate Professor McGonagall.

"Mr. Potter would you kindly explain why you aren't at lunch or why you had left Potions and hour early than the scheduled time." She asked in a furious tone.

Harry blinked a few times as the fog in his mind lifted and he noticed the infuriated looks on Professor McGonagall's face for the first time.

"Potions got cancelled as some Slytherin blew a Potion and so I decided to come here and take a nap." Harry ended with a barely stifled yawn. "But why were you searching for me now?" He asked as he sat up straight on the couch. "I promise you I haven't done anything. Snape is…."

"This has got nothing to do with whatever you are clearly responsible for but would never be held responsible for." Professor McGonagall said with an actual smile. "You are supposed to be with the other champions at the 'wand-weighing' ceremony. So please make your way to the ante-room off the charms corridor."

"Wand-weighing?" Harry asked confusedly.

"It is a method of making sure that your wand is in perfect working order." Professor McGonagall said as she headed towards the portrait hole. "Now, head to the charms corridor without any further delay."

"How about if I have a quick lunch?" Harry asked hopefully as he felt his stomach rumble in hunger.

"Charms Corridor, Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall said that firmly.

Harry started heading towards the charms corridor but only half-heartedly. His thoughts were still focused on the lunch that Ginny was enjoying.

"_You got to sleep, Potter." _Ginny said reading his thoughts. _"Don't grumble about food. You can't have everything."_

"_Hey! I could die of hunger you know." _Harry shot back and Ginny did not reply but laughed at the hyperbole. Harry finally reached the ant-room, knocked and entered the room.

A long table draped in black was the first thing that Harry saw. There were five chairs behind it with Madame Maxime, Karkaroff, Bagman and Mr. Crouch seated behind it and talking with a witch dressed in magenta robes that Harry has never seen before. Professor Dumbledore was standing by a window talking to an old man whom Harry couldn't quite place while Krum, Fleur and Cedric were conversing rather Fleur and Cedric seemed to be conversing and Krum was listening. It took a few moments for them to realize that Harry had shown up.

"Ah, here he is! Champion number four! In you come, Harry, in you come…nothing to worry about; it's just the wand weighing ceremony." Bagman had spotted Harry and bounded towards him. Behind him Harry noticed the witch staring at him with great interest.

"Nice of you to show-up an hour late, boy." Karkaroff snarled.

"The next time you have an event associated with the TriWizard tournament please do notify me in advance." Harry replied calmly. "It is rather tricky to be punctual for an event which you have no prior intimation of."

Harry reply was greeted by a silence. He had a feeling that most expected him to lose his temper once again.

"_My word, Harry. What happened to the revenge-seeker?" _Ginny asked.

"_I got to maintain an image. After all I didn't become a Snape-tamer by losing my temper." _Harry replied mentally.

"Let us get the proceedings underway, now that we have all the champions here." Professor Dumbledore said as he took his seat behind the long table. "May I introduce Mr. Ollivander? He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."

Harry hooked around, and with a jolt of surprise saw an old wizard with large, pale eyes standing quietly by the window. Harry had met Mr. Ollivander before - he was the wand maker from whom Harry had bought his own wand over three years ago in Diagon Alley.

The ceremony began with Fleur being the first one up. The most interesting part was that she was indeed a part-veela. Cedric went up next and Harry tried to tune out as he began plotting pranking Malfoy again.

"_Concentrate on the ceremony, Harry." _Ginny admonished him. _"I want to hear it. Maybe Krum might turn out to be a part leprechaun or part centaur."_

"_Part-centaur?Aren't Centaurs already part human?" _He said.

"_Well he slouches around on two feet. It is like he was meant to have four feet but somewhere down the line they disappeared." _Ginny joked and Harry had to control himself from bursting into laughter.

"Good," said Mr. Ollivander, handing Krum back his wand. "Which leaves…Mr. Potter?" Harry got to his feet and walked past Krum to Mr. Ollivander. He handed over his wand.

"Aaaah, yes." said Mr. Ollivander, his pale eyes suddenly gleaming. "Yes, yes, yes. How well I remember."

Harry could remember that very well too. What was it that Mr. Ollivander has told him… 'Think with your mind and then let your heart decide if it is right and then you will never go wrong'…

"_You think he might say out loud that your wand is Voldemort's brother wand?" _Ginny asked.

"_That would probably be bigger than the fourth champion thing." _Harry replied. _"He would never want people to know that Voldemort's wand was made by him. It would be bad for business. Besides he seems to be a good person."_

Mr. Ollivander spent a long time examining Harry's wand. At more than a few occasions he glanced up at Harry. Finally he made wine shoot out of it and declaring it to be in perfect working order handed it back to Harry.

"Thank you all," said Dumbledore, standing up at the judges' table. "You may go back to your lessons now - or perhaps it would be quicker just to go down to dinner, as they are about to end…"

"Photographs!" Bagman exclaimed enthusiastically and Harry groaned. He had a feeling that the photography session was going to be a tedious one and he was probably going to miss out on a meal again.

"_You can always have it in the kitchens. Stop being so grumpy." _Ginny told him as the reporter whom Harry knew was called Rita Skeeter directed around everyone. She seemed to have a strange fascination to have Harry in the centre of the picture while the photographer seemed to want Fleur. Personally Harry completely supported the photographer. She was much more photogenic than he could ever be. Finally it was time to go and Harry couldn't wait to head towards the door but it seemed that the evening was to only get longer.

"Ah Harry would you mind answering a few question?" Rita Skeeter asked Harry.

"Not unless I am getting house-points for them." Harry quipped.

"Ah that's good enough." Skeeter said. "So how do you feel being the youngest champion?"

"Absolutely fantastic. Can't wait to put my life in danger and get into the list of the dead TriWizard champions." Harry replied irritably. "Ciao!"

Harry said as he started making his way towards the door where the other champions seemed to have been observing his exchange.

"Hunger makes me irritable." Harry said with a smile. "And we have missed dinner as well."

"That we haff." Krum gruffed out a reply.

"I hope someone saved something for me otherwise it will be only chocolate-frogs tonight." Cedric said.

"Eh?" Harry asked surprisingly. "Don't you know where the kitchens are?"

"No." Cedric replied. "Do you?"

"Yeah of course." Harry replied with a smile. "You all interested in going for a quick meal in the kitchens?" Harry asked Krum and Fleur as well. Krum nodded almost immediately while Fleur looked on skeptically but finally agreed.

"Well follow me then." Harry said as he started heading towards the Great Hall which had emptied by this time. He made his way towards the portrait of the giant fruit-bowl and tickled the pear and a moment later the kitchen portal opened.

"Welcome to the Hogwarts kitchens." Harry said as he motioned the other three to follow him into the kitchen. They made it in and Harry had barely turned around after closing the portal when he tackled at the knees and surprisingly to the floor by an over-excited Dobby.

"The great Harry Potter comes again." Dobby exclaimed in his high squeaky voice. "And he had got new friends with him. Dobby is so happy to be serving them. Dobby is so…"

"THAT'S great Dobby." Harry interrupted loudly. "Do you have to do this 'routine' everytime I come to the kitchens?"

"But Dobby is not being here the last time the great Harry Potter visited…."

"Okay—okay just can we have some dinner please?" Harry said.

"Of course, Sir." Dobby said as he popped away even as a few other elves went about setting the table.

"Do Scarhead and the masters and mistress wish for something extra?" It was Chucky who was rather disapprovingly watching the proceedings.

"Err…" Harry began eloquently. His skills as the host-apparent were non-existent. But it seemed that Chucky recognized his discomfort and took control of it herself.

"Mistress would like something special?" She asked turning towards Fleur.

"Non, ze regular course will suffice." Fleur replied. Chucky in turned towards Krum and Cedric both of whom declined. Krum was actually staring around at the kitchen in wonder. A few minutes later the four sat around the table that the elves had set –up and started eating in a bit of uncomfortable silence. About halfway through the meal it was Krum who actually broke the silence.

"You fly vary well." Krum said addressing Harry. "You should try for the England team."

It took about a moment for that to sink in and then Harry groaned out loudly and buried his head into the table and Cedric surprisingly broke into raucous laughter and actually slipped off his chair prompting Fleur to glance disapprovingly at the two Hogwarts' students while Krum looked on confusedly wondering why a compliment should have brought about such odd and extreme reactions from the two. But after that the four slipped into a comfortable conversation and surprisingly even Fleur deigned to join in.

It was well past the curfew when Harry finally started making his way towards the Gryffindor common-room where the only thing he wanted to do was to slip into his bed and sleep.

"_Don't count on it." _Came Ginny's voice. _"Sirius' reply is here. He wants to talk to you via the fire in the Gryffindor common-room on the night of the 22__nd__."_


	26. Update Info

Well guys, I am extremely sorry for the complete lack of updates. But I have been really…really busy in the last few months. Then I had a horrible writer's block and then anything, I wrote just didn't satisfy me. But I am "hopefully" over all that and trust me before the week is out the next chapter would be out…I promise. And a heartfelt thanks to you all for reading and reviewing my story so far.


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